UAE’s Astra Tech acquires Botim in a bid to create an ‘ultra app’

Astra Tech (Astra), a technology development group in the UAE, has acquired Botim, a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solution for the MENA region, to relaunch into an ‘ultra app.’

Abu Dhabi’s G42 has led a $500m fundraising effort to support the relaunch.

The company will continue pursuing strategic acquisitions for Botim while working synergistically with its architecture, research, development and tech teams to accelerate the design and development process.

Currently, Botim has 90 million registered users and 25 million active users. The acquisition gives Astra Tech an advantage as it plans to expand beyond super apps and build the region’s first ultra app with Botim. Additional plans for Botim, are expected to be announced in Q1 of 2023.

Abdallah Abu Sheikh, founder of Astra Tech, is spearheading the relaunch and will emphasise the importance of creating a monolithic app with several services, an intuitive interface, and a strong value proposition for customers and merchants with scalable and profitable unit economics.

“The need for an all-encompassing app accessible to all customers that can re-steer economics in the right direction while giving customers, merchants, and investors a fair deal is paramount. Botim will be the first of its kind in the region to simplify interactions of hundreds of millions of users, allowing them to engage and transact seamlessly. Acquiring Botim puts us on a path to continue our mission of disrupting consumer technology and building a global benchmark of what an ultra-app should look like,” said Abu Sheikh.

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