Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun
Co-founders, Anghami
The Lebanese-born, Abu Dhabi-headquartered Anghami made history this year when it became the first Arab tech company to list on the Nasdaq exchange in New York. The music streaming powerhouse has over 72 million songs in its library, in excess of 75 million registered users and more than 200,000 podcasts. It has also struck strategic initiatives such as the launch of Vibe Music Arabia, a joint venture label with Sony Music Middle East to support independent Arab artists, besides the unveiling of the Anghami Lab venue in partnership with Addmind. It’s been a dream run for a company that rebranded last month and whose idea was sowed when co-founders Habib and Maroun were on a ski trip together in Lebanon. They found it cumbersome to download the latest music and transfer it to their iPod. Anghami rose from that predicament with an initial $1m funding, to a company that was valued at $220m at the time of being listed.