Walee, an influencer marketing platform based in Islamabad, has raised $2.7 million in seed funding from Z2C, a Pakistani communications company focused on advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce. Although the purchase price was not disclosed, Z2C confirmed to MENAbytes that it acquired a minority stake in the company.
Walee, founded in 2019 by Muhammad Ahsan Tahir, connects brands and media agencies with influencers for the purpose of executing online campaigns. According to the startup’s website, it has a network of more than 50,000 influencers (the majority of whom appear to be micro-influencers) with a combined reach of 100 million followers.
Additionally, the website notes that Walee has collaborated with over 5,000 brands to date.
Brands can use the platform to engage influencers to promote their products and services to their followers across a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Additionally, the startup has an offering that enables influencers to sell products from its partner brands and agencies while earning a commission on each successful sale. Additionally, creators on the platform can indicate their interest in participating in a campaign (as advertised by a brand) and completing the deliverables. Additionally, creators can track their earnings from each campaign on the platform and withdraw funds via various channels as desired.
Additionally, Walee has developed a social media monitoring and analysis tool to assist brands in monitoring and analyzing conversations on social media platforms. Branchild Communications, a Z2C-owned media agency, recently announced a partnership with Walee to distribute the tool to Pakistani brands.
In a statement on the occasion, Muhammad Ahsan Tahir, co-founder, and CEO of Walee, stated, “Since 2019, advertisers and agencies have relied on Walee’s ecosystem to advance influencer marketing campaigns and leverage social listening tools. Walee secured this equity financing from Z2C as it scales to meet strong regional demand for influencer search, campaign management, and measurement. We will provide enterprise customers in the region with feature-rich enterprise solutions that include sentiment and semantic analysis in multiple regional languages, including Arabic, for social and digital media content, and will do so through five offices.”
“Walee’s data-driven content analysis and influencer ecosystem approach represent a paradigm shift for the media and advertising industries,” said Fatima Hyder, Group Chief Strategy Officer at Z2C. Given our ongoing investments in OTT, eCommerce, and eSports platforms, the addition of Walee complements our vertically integrated business strategy perfectly. We understand, more than most, how difficult it is to start and scale a business in the midst of a pandemic.”
Walee intends to expand its platform into the Middle East and will do so with a portion of its recent investment. Additionally, the investment will be used to assist the startup in accelerating its product development.
