Mara Social Media, a Dubai-based platform, has announced that it has acquired global mobile calling and messaging app Nimbuzz, with 200 million users across the Middle East and Indi
a.
Headed by successful entrepreneur Ashish J. Thakkar, Mara Social Media is a multi-channel platform of online and mobile technology innovations, targeting the booming African market.
In a statement, the company said that the acquisition of Nimbuzz will create a stronger foundation for future growth in emerging markets. It did not disclose the purchase price.
Nimbuzz, initially released in May 2008, can be installed on computers, mobile phones, smartphones, and tablets. It offers its users the ability to make voice and video calls, enable chat and file sharing worldwide. The app is available for Android, iPhone, and Symbian, MIDP, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, PC and Mac clients.
Anubhav Nagar, CEO of Mara Social Media said, “We see a strong momentum for consumer messaging apps, which are set to overtake social media apps globally. According to reports and current trends it is clear that social media apps are likely to be eclipsed by messaging apps in the next two years. This is the opportunity, which we identified with Nimbuzz.”
As part of this acquisition, Mara gains access to Nimbuzz’s and Holaa’s unified platform as well as their international assets, IP and database.
Ahuti Chug, chair of Mara Social Media, said, “Users are now demanding a messaging app experience that goes beyond entertainment or communications. We see this as a gap in the offering of the existing messenger players in most markets and it opens up a huge opportunity for Mara to tap in to. We are extremely excited about this move and with the fact that it makes us a global player in this space.”
Mara will roll-out a new hybrid approach for the Nimbuzz messenger, which would be an amalgamation of content, incubator platform, smart market place and consumer communities. Mara plans to integrate the Nimbuzz platform with its existing Mara platforms including Mara Mentor and Mara Jobs into Nimbuzz Messenger and vice versa.
Through this multi-platform integration of Nimbuzz and Mara’s current consumer facing platforms, the long-term play for Mara Social Media is to enable commerce by growing and amplifying the power of the user base and engagement.
