Dubai’s MBC Group invests $12m in travel site Wego

Arabic broadcaster MBC Group has announced a $12m investment in travel search site Wego.

MBC said the investment was designed to accelerate Wego’s growth across the Middle East and North region and it would include the promotion of the company’s website and app across its channels and other platforms.

“As we incorporate more video based editorial content and product merchandising to Wego’s online travel marketplace there is obvious crossover potential between MBC’s programming and Wego’s online services. We look forward to exploring those opportunities together,” said Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder of Wego.

Wego, which compares hotels and flights, was founded in Singapore in 2005 and now has a second headquarters in Dubai.

Other investors in the company include Tiger Global Management, Crescent Point Group and SquarePeg Capital.

The size of MBC’s stake was not disclosed.

Middle East and North Africa start-ups attracted $140m in investment through 87 transactions in the first half of the year, excluding online shopping platform Souq.com and ride app Careem, according to a recent report by start-up community platform Magnitt.

Dubai based investment bank Arqaam Capital facilitated the transaction.