A15 is a venture capital firm based in Cairo that invests in early-stage startups in the MENA region. Recently, it announced that one of its portfolio companies, Viral Wave, has been acquired by PopArabia. PopArabia works with Reservoir, a company listed on NASDAQ.
This deal marks A15’s ninth successful exit. It shows that A15 has a strong track record of investing in promising startups and helping them grow to deliver good returns for investors.
Viral Wave was created from ARPUPlus, which is A15’s venture-building arm. The company is based in the UAE and focuses on digital music distribution.
Viral Wave helps artists with services like distributing music online, managing YouTube channels, and earning money from streaming platforms. It has handled a music catalog with over 55 billion streams and worked with popular regional artists like Ramy Sabry, Ahmed Saad, and Ruby.
After the acquisition, Viral Wave will become the main team handling music distribution and label services for PopArabia. Its Egypt-based team will now work as part of PopArabia’s wider operations in the MENA region, bringing together their strengths in music distribution, digital earnings, and artist support.
This deal will also help expand the global presence of PopArabia’s partner, Reservoir, which is based in New York, allowing it to reach more markets internationally.
Karim Beshara, A15 Managing Partner, commented: “A15’s ninth exit is a meaningful milestone, and one that reflects the consistency our team has built over more than two decades of investing and company-building.’ We are proud of what the Viral Wave and ARPUPlus teams have achieved, and we congratulate them on reaching this outcome. We wish the Viral Wave team every success as they embark on this next chapter under Reservoir and PopArabia’s global platform.”
Medhat Karam, ARPUPlus CEO, added “We are proud to have supported Viral Wave from inception through to this strategic outcome. Building enduring companies requires patience, operational depth, and a long-term commitment to the teams and markets we back. We congratulate the Viral Wave team and wish them continued momentum as they integrate into one of the region’s most significant music platforms.”
Founded in 2023, Viral Wave, part of ARPUPlus, is a UAE-based platform that helps distribute music digitally and manages content on streaming platforms and YouTube.
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