Tamatem, one of the leading mobile games publisher in the Arabic speaking market, raised a $ 2.5 million Series A investment led by Wamda Capital with the participation of Discovery Nusantara Capital, Raed Ventures, Vision Venture Capital and Seed Equity Venture Partners.

Existing investors, include 500Startups, Kima Ventures, Arzan VC and Social Capital. The new funding will enable the company to close deals with international game developers, capture a bigger market share in MENA in addition to hiring top quality talent.  

“At Wamda Capital we have been closely monitoring the evolution of the regional gaming market and believe there to be a very significant opportunity in further developing the space driven by strong consumer demand for access to global titles adapted for local preferences,” said Wamda Capital’s managing partner, Khaled Talhouni. 

“Tamatem has been working and partnering with some of best developers and studios from around the world, to bring the highest quality games possible to the region,” founder and CEO of Tamatem, Hussam Hammo said. “This investment will help us localize better mobile games and will also allow us dig deeper into the Arab gaming market.”

Founded in 2013, Tamatem has published over 40 games that have achieved more than 50 million downloads in the MENA region. All of Tamatem’s titles have reached number one on the App & Play Store with successful games such VIP Balot, and Suqoor Al Ard. 

Since its inception, Tamatem has been growing 150 percent year over year, with a significant 20 percent growth month over month in 2017. Expanding its team from three people in 2014 to a current number of 26 employees split across different departments such as products, marketing, art and research and development.  

According to Strategy&, the MENA’s (Middle East and North Africa) mobile gaming market is expected to become a $ 2.3 billion industry in 2022, triple of what it currently is. The market in Saudi Arabia currently has the highest average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) in the world; China for example has an ARPPU of $32 while in Saudi Arabia it is around $270. 

The MENA’s mobile gaming market is severely underserved with less than one percent of games on app stores in Arabic, which creates a gap for users to consume culturally relevant and localized mobile games.

“As such, we are thrilled to be partnering with Hussam and the Tamatem team in our first investment in the gaming space,” Talhouni added. “The company has a track record that is second to none in publishing and localizing titles in regional markets.”