Companies may use the startup to locate and pay influencers to promote their businesses on the platform.
Ali Gul Pir, a rapper and comedian, and Waliya Najib, an online personality, are among Walee’s more than 100,000 influencers.
ISLAMABAD: This acquisition of Mirrorr.com by Pakistan’s Walee Technologies Pvt. paves the way for Walee to reach the Middle East and North Africa markets, according to a Bloomberg article.
Samsung Electronics Inc. and Reckitt Benckiser Group LLC use Walee as a marketplace for influencers who can promote their businesses. More than 100,000 people in Pakistan follow Walee, including rapper-comedian Ali Gul Pir and internet star Waliya Najib.
Using artificial intelligence (AI), Mirrorr is able to identify brands and logos that appear in social media postings and articles.
In a statement, Walee stated that this purchase provides the company with an AI-driven analytics solution that detects and identifies brands and trademarks in content shared on social media networks.
Brands are increasingly turning to influencers on platforms like TikTok and Instagram for their advertising needs, which is why this acquisition is timely.
Companies are altering their approaches to reach young customers who base their purchasing decisions on trusted social profiles rather than company communication, according to Walee’s MENA area director Najib Sabbagh.
Influencers who want to join Walee should be at least 18 years old, hold a CNIC card, and have at least 1,000 people in their major social media network, such as authentic followers, friends, family, classmates, or coworkers. As long as they have a Pakistani bank account or a Pakistani payment provider like JazzCash, they can accept payments.
Z2C Limited invested $2.7 million in Walee in 2021.
Ahsan Tahir, co-founder of Walee, said in a media interview last year that “advertisers and agencies in the region have relied on the Walee ecosystem since 2019 to enhance influencer marketing campaigns and leverage social listening tools.” This equity funding from Z2C comes at a time when Walee is scaling to meet significant demand for influencer search, campaign management and measurement in the region.
According to Fatima Hyder, the group chief strategy officer of Z2C Limited, “Walee’s data-driven content analysis and influencer ecosystem approach is a paradigm shift for the media and advertising sector.” As a vertically integrated company, Walee fits perfectly within our business strategy given our interests in OTT, eCommerce and eSports platforms. We know better than anyone else how difficult it is to start a company from nothing and grow it in the face of a pandemic.”
