UAE-Based Social Immersion App VUZ Raises $20 Million Series B

VUZ, a UAE-based immersive social app, has raised $20 million in Series B investment led by Caruso Vision Ventures VC Fund.

Other strategic investors in the round included e& capital, investment pillar of e& (formerly known as Etisalat Group), DFDF (Dubai Future District Fund), WIN (Webit Investment Network), and SRMG, Elbert Capital, and Yasta Partners, Faith Capital, Panthera Capital, in addition to seven existing investors.

Founded in 2017 by Kahled Zaatarah, VUZ allows users to stream and experience immersive realism, extended reality (XR) and the Metaverse digital experience. The platform offers over 20,000 hours of content covering entertainment, creator-generated content, sports, and XR, VR, and AR experiences virtually anywhere in the world.

“Our mission is to build a hyperconnected product to teleport, empower, and entertain millions of users globally,” Khaled Zaatarah, founder of VUZ, tells StartupScene. “We are very thankful to have some of the strongest international investors as part of our journey to build a global social immersive platform while leading the new technology revolution, accelerating the future of media and trends such as the Metaverse and XR, while building strong sustainable growth.”

According to the startup, VUZ has reached over 1 billion screen views from over 10 million users since its launch. While 44% of views come from the Middle East, 32% are from the U.S, and 24% are from Egypt. VUZ aims to increase its reach to 3 billion views by 2023.

The new funds will be used to fuel VUZ’s expansion plans including reaching larger audiences, accelerating the growth of its subscription revenue, creating more content, adding new social features, and launching Web3 products and NFT projects. The investment will also help VUZ further scale its Los Angeles office and scale with creators and content in the USA, Asia, and Europe.