Beam Wallet gets its first investment from Majid al Futtaim
Beam Wallet gets its first investment from Majid al Futtaim
In one of its first
investments in the regional tech industry,
Majid Al Futtaim Ventures announced an investment in mobile commerce and
rewards platform, Beam Wallet. The amount is undisclosed.
The Beam Wallet application has certainly been
leaving its footprints on the mobile commerce scene of the Arab
region.
Launched in early 2012, the mobile wallet
app has today more than 100,000 users and over 1,100 retail
outlets, including Costa Coffee, Tim Horton’s, Subway, Cold Stone
Creamery, Aldo, Tommy Hilfiger, Yo! Sushi, Aeropostale and Kenneth
Cole.
The app allows its users to access
Beam
Wallet services on their phones, and enable
them to recharge their mobile and DTH (the
provision of TV services through
subscription) accounts across service
providers.
The equity that Majid al Futtaim Group is
acquiring from Beam Wallet falls directly into its business
interests as a developer of commercial retail properties, in 12
countries. The group that was launched in 1992 by businessman Majid
Al Futtaim, owns and operates 18 shopping malls, 56 hypermarkets
and 53 supermarkets, in addition to 11 hotels, 9 movie theatre
locations and 45 fashion stores.
Majid Al Futtaim Ventures is responsible for
all leisure, entertainment, cinema facilities and manages their
healthcare and financial services, such as Ski Dubai, Magic Planet,
iFly, Wahoo! watermark and Aquaplay.
“The hardest part of the deal was the rigorous
benchmarking process required by Majid Al Futtaim as part of their
due diligence before the investment,” Shezan
Amiji, co-founder of Beam Wallet, told Wamda. Al
Futaim Ventures evaluated the platform against other
global competitors and Beam Wallet’s solution was found to be
comparable. “This was also the most gratifying, because it gave us
hard evidence of our unique value proposition in comparison to
other global players in this space, confirming Beam Wallet is a
truly world-class platform,” added Amiji.
Taking on investment from a big corporation like
Majid Al Futtaim brings a lot of value to the startup. “Beyond the
operational and geographical expansion that this partnership
enables, Majid Al Futaim offers an unrivalled depth of retail
experience and reach in this region,” said Amiji.
In a statement released by the two companies,
Rasool Hujair, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Finance said: “We believe
that mobile technology is at the core of the consumer shopping
experience, and our investment in Beam Wallet will further enhance
our ability to create great moments for everyone every
day.”
“In
order to succeed you need to be relentless,” Amiji told Wamda,
“Persistence pays off.”
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