Egypt’s Cameo-like celebrity shout-out video startup has secured $3.6 million in seed funding co-led by 4DX Ventures, B&Y Venture Partners, and Global Ventures. Other leading regional funds and several angel investors also participated in the oversubscribed round, the company said in a statement. The Cameo-like platform enables fans across the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) to buy personalized video messages and shoutouts – for themselves or their loved ones – from leading celebrities of the region. There is also the option to record reactions and publish them.
Mohamed El-Shinnawy, Minly co-founder
Presently, Minly has more than 50,000 registered users and features hundreds of celebrities that include cinema and TV stars, athletes, musicians, and social media influencers. Some leading names on the platform include Tamer Hosny, Fifi Abdou, Assala Nasri, Dorra Zarrouk, Hazem Imam, and Mahmoud Trezeguet.
“Minly is fundamentally changing the relationship between celebrities and fans in the MENA region, and has an enormous opportunity for growth,” said Peter Orth, Co-Founder & General Partner at 4DX Ventures, who will be joining the startup’s board.
On Minly, celebrities set the prices of shoutouts themselves with some guidance from the startup. It costs $499 to get a shoutout from Tamer Hosny, an Egyptian singer with over 50 million social media followers across different channels.
Alternatively, fans can exchange messages and voice notes with the celebrities on the platform albeit for a fee lower than video shoutouts.
According to the company’s website, Minly makes money by taking a cut from every transaction on its platform and donates a percentage of proceeds earned to charity.
The business of buying celebrity shout outs through a marketplace was popularised by Cameo, which launched in 2017. The Chicago-based startup has experienced significant growth since then and became a unicorn earlier this year with a $100 million Series C.
Cameo’s prominence has led to the birth to many similar platforms in other parts of the world including the Middle East where at least ten celebrity shoutout marketplaces currently operate.
Apart from Minly, players in the space include Starzly, Halahi, and Starprise, all of which try to differentiate from one other by acquiring the exclusive rights of celebrities for their platforms. With the new funding, Minly wants to expand its products and services to become what it says will be a “full-stack passion economy” platform.
It aims to “empower content creators to deliver meaningful experiences across multiple mediums to their fans” and in the process, hopes to become the first unicorn in the space.
“With this new funding and the partners that joined us, we are ready to scale across the region and introduce an exciting suite of new products,” said Mohamed El-Shinnawy, Minly co-founder. “The creator economy is in its infancy and growing at lightning speed. We have the opportunity to build this category’s first unicorn in MENA.”
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This is incredible for a non-fintech firm in Egypt, and an anomaly in the African startup funding scene. 4DX Ventures, B&Y Venture Partners, and Global Ventures led an oversubscribed $3.6 million seed round for Minly, an Egyptian startup that empowers stars to build real, customised interactions with their fans across the Middle East and North Africa area. The round also included participation from other leading regional funds, and a cast of highly strategic angel investors including Scooter Braun (founder of SB Projects), WndrCo (Anthony Saleh and Jeffrey Katzenberg), Jason Finger (founder of Seamless / Grubhub), Arieh Mimran (Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of to.org, and CIO of Groupe Mimran), and Tamim Jabr (Executive Director for International Investments at Kingdom Holding Co).
Mohamed El-Shinnawy, co-founder at Minly
“Minly is fundamentally changing the relationship between celebrities and fans in the Mena region, and has an enormous opportunity for growth,” says Peter Orth, Co-Founder & General Partner at 4DX Ventures, who will be joining the board. “The team has both the ambition and the expertise to build a full-stack digital interaction platform that could change the way digital content is created and consumed in the region. We’re thrilled to partner with Minly and to help them reach their full potential.”
The startup intends to use the funds to expand its goods and services to become a full-stack passion economy platform that enables content producers to offer meaningful experiences to their followers across different mediums.
“With this new funding and the incredible group of partners that joined us, we are ready to scale across the region and introduce an exciting suite of new products,” says Mohamed El-Shinnawy, co-founder at Minly. “The creator economy is in its infancy and growing at lightning speed. We have the opportunity to build this category’s first unicorn in Mena”.
Why The Investors Invested
There are a number of reasons why investors in this round chose to participate, the most important of which being the startup’s current traction as well as celebrity endorsement. Since its inception in late 2020, the firm has seen significant organic development, with more than 50,000 registered users on the site, as well as an impressive roster of tier A regional superstars.
Tamer Hosny, a famous singer, actor, and filmmaker with over 50 million followers on social media, is one of the platform’s biggest stars.
“I’m very excited to be on Minly, connecting with my fans around the world,” he says. “I’m also super happy with the social impact that we’re making on Minly, as a portion of the proceeds goes to charities to help the less fortunate”.
But then, again, team is also fundamental factor here. Minly’s team, co-founded and led by Mohamed El-Shinnawy, Tarek Hosny, and Bassel El-Toukhy, with industry partners Tarek ElGanainy and Ahmed Abbas, brings decades of experience from top firms in technology and entertainment, including Uber, Careem, MBC’s Shahid, Emerge Technology, Microsoft, Disney, Apple, Netflix, IBM, Amazon, and Vodafone, brings decades of experience from top firms in technology and entertainment.
In particular, Shinnawy has over 15 years of expertise in the media and IT industries. He supervised a team of 85 engineers that delivered work for Hollywood’s major studios, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal, Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers, after selling his first business, Emerge Technology, to a media and entertainment corporation located in Los Angeles. Shinnawy was also crucial in the global growth of Apple TV+, Disney+, and Netflix, which now have hundreds of millions of subscribers globally.
4DX Ventures has been extremely active within the Egyptian startup space. The VC has invested in a range of Egyptian startups, including in Bosta, Trella, fantasy sports startup Eksab, as well as in the Nigerian car-listing platform Autochek.
Based in Lebanon, B & Y Venture Partners invests globally at both seed and growth stage, with previous investments in startups such as Egypt’s Flextock.
Global Ventures generally invests in revenue-generating startups (with at least $1 million in annual revenue) across Middle East & Africa but has made few exceptions. On its website, Global Venture says that they’re looking for startups that are revenue-generating, industry winners, capital-efficient, immensely scalable and have a clear path to exit. Global Ventures has previously invested in fifteen startups including Kitopi, HolidayMe, Mumzworld, Elmenus, Floranow, Tribal Credit, Mamo Pay, and SpiderSlik.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Founded in 2020, users may purchase customized video messages and shoutouts from their favorite celebrities through Minly, giving them unparalleled access to the talent they adore, and celebrities can engage with their followers on a deeper way. Minly has built a broad roster of hundreds of brilliant superstars, including sports, singers, and internet influencers, in addition to traditional film and television stars. Tamer Hosny, Fifi Abdou, Assala Nasri, Dorra Zarrouk, Hazem Imam, and Mahmoud Trezeguet are just a few of the finest talents in the region that have joined Minly.
Minly is providing celebrities a genuine and personal method to continue to engage with their top followers, thanks to the worldwide epidemic. In-person events have all but vanished, and Minly is offering celebrities an authentic and personal way to continue to interact with their top fans.
On the platform users can peruse public shoutouts and film their reactions, resulting in one-of-a-kind and genuine experiences. Tamer Hosny appeared suddenly to Haidy and Abanoub’s engagement party, shocking everyone and providing an amazing moment for the happy couple, as an example of the emotional Minly Moments generated on the site. Another Minly Moment was for Assala’s biggest admirers, the Al-Ghazzawi family, which was caught on the platform. On Father’s Day, Mohamad was taken aback when his wife Insaf surprised him with a customized film from Assala honoring their beloved daughter Sham.
“As a mission-driven team, it’s all about spreading this positivity and empowering stars and content creators to engage with communities from all walks of life. We’re also very proud of our collaboration with NGOs that create real on-the-ground social impact, such as the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation.” adds Shinnawy.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning write
