- Astra Tech’s fintech Payby and home services Rizek, acquired in August 2022, will be integrated into Botim.
- G42 leads Astra Tech’s $500 million round to back Botim’s Ultra app kickoff.
- Botim boasts 90 million registered users and an 80% UAE penetration.
- Botim will become a unified smartphone app serving people’s everyday needs.
Dubai, UAE – 10 January 2023: Astra Tech (Astra), a UAE-based technology development group, has successfully acquired Botim, the MENA region’s leading VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solution, to relaunch into an Ultra app. The support of $500 million in fundraising, led by G42, is accelerating the relaunch of Botim. This milestone addition to Astra’s portfolio is the most recent in a string of strategic acquisitions in 2022, including Rizek, home cleaning services, and Payby, a homegrown fintech company, which will seamlessly integrate into Botim to offer a range of services through a single integration.
Astra will continue its pursuit of strategic acquisitions for Botim while synergistically working with its architecture, research, development, and tech teams to fast-track design and development to go to market. The acquisition of Botim is a landmark transaction for the MEA’s tech scene. The app is the region’s largest and most popular MENA-built communications platform; Botim boasts 90 million registered users. The acquisition gives Astra Tech a massive advantage as it plans to expand beyond super apps and build the region’s first Ultra app with Botim. Additional plans for Botim, which has 80% penetration in the UAE, are expected to be announced in Q1 of 2023.
Abdallah Abu Sheikh, a pioneering serial entrepreneur in MEA and the founder of Astra Tech, is spearheading the formation of Botim’s relaunch and will emphasize the importance of creating a monolithic app with several services, a straightforward interface, and a strong value proposition for customers and merchants with a scalable and profitable unit economics model. Botim’s relaunch will reshape the boundaries of the digital ecosystem to combat the customer fatigue that stems from multiple platforms trying to force unnatural user behavior through scattered digital offerings.
Abdallah Abu Sheikh, Founder of Astra Tech, said: “The need for an all-encompassing app accessible to all customers that can re-steer economics in the right direction while giving customers, merchants, and investors a fair deal is paramount. Botim will be the first of its kind in the region to simplify interactions of hundreds of millions, allowing them to engage and transact seamlessly. Acquiring Botim puts us on a path to continue our mission of disrupting consumer technology and building a global benchmark of what an Ultra app should look like.”
Abdallah’s wealth of entrepreneurial experience, including projects such as RIZEK and Barq, has seen Astra Tech make rapid strides since its inception in March 2022. This swift progress, along with the financial support received from its investors, is accelerating the relaunch of Botim.
Astra has followed a hybrid strategy of putting together one of the region’s leading technology development teams and acquiring strategic fintech services to enable the company’s ecosystem to integrate smoothly and offer vast capabilities to its users quickly. Botim, the region’s most popular VoIP app, saw its popularity explode during the COVID-19 pandemic as it provided much-needed communication solutions such as video, audio, instant messaging, and group chats with up to 500 users. By using Botim as the base of the ultra app, Astra Tech will be able to reach millions of users in record time to become the MEA region’s most trusted consumer platform.