Podcast listeners crossed half a billion people at the end of last year as listenership maintained steady growth. With countries in the Arab world having some of the most engaged listeners, a podcasting startup out of Dubai is doubling down on the opportunity. Podeo is a UAE-based podcast distribution platform that has made a name for itself in the Arab world.
After reaching a subscriber base of 50 million, it believes it has found the formula for tapping consumers in emerging markets, it has now raised a Series A of $5.4 million to expand in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. Oraseya Capital, the VC arm of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority, is leading this round.
Other participants in the Series A include Ibtikar Fund, Cedar Mundi Ventures, Samarium, iSME, and returning investor Razor Capital. Podeo literally lit up and came to life in 2020, but that was not when it started. CEO Stefano Fallaha first came up with the idea when still a high school student in Beirut in 2015-2016, a side project where he tried to build an audio-based social network, calling it Fallound — a variation on his own name that also sounds like sound/around.
The startup then shifted gears to become as a smart podcast aggregator that made recommendations based on, for instance, mode of transportation and length of journey, interest, and moods. The app as it existed, however, failed to gain traction in the Middle East-North Africa region (MENA) that it targeted, due to a dearth .