UAE-based online book retailer and publisher Jamalon has closed the first leg of its Series B funding round raising more than $10 million from existing and new shareholders.

The round was led by Wamda Capital, followed by Aramex with new investments from Anova Investments, 500 Falcons and Endeavor Catalyst. It is the largest amount received by a Middle East e-commerce retailer to date.

Founded in 2010 by Ala’ Alsallal, Jamalon plans to use the funds to increase the reach of Arabic books worldwide and expand its print-on-demand service which is capable of printing more than two million titles in under five minutes per book.

“We are very excited to close this new round with investors that have been supporting us from the beginning,” said Alsallal. “Our ability to service customers globally via Jamalon’s five distribution hubs will grow even further thanks to our data-driven approach.”

Jamalon today offers more than 10 million publications in both Arabic and English working with 3000 Arabic publishers and 27,000 English-language publishers in a market valued at $1.7 billion.

“We are excited to lead this funding round and to continue supporting Jamalon in its mission to reinvent the region’s publishing and distribution industry,” said Fadi Ghandour, executive chairman at Wamda Capital. “The print-on-demand solution is an example of how the industry is evolving and Jamalon is primed to capitalise on this shift and further scale its business.”