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Arunabh Madhur, Regional VP & Head Business EMEA at SHAREit Group speaks about SHAREit, one of the fastest growing apps globally, its development strategy and focus on growth

What is SHAREit’s core business?

SHAREit Group is a high-growth internet technology company that has evolved in Asia and is quickly expanding into the GCC and other regions globally. It has built a diversified suite of applications, including the core app – SHAREit, which connects people by helping them send rich multimedia - that includes: APKs (Android Package Kits), files, music, pictures, and games - to other devices without using active WiFi or mobile data consumption.

SHAREit came about from the understanding that individuals generate a habit to share rich content with their peers, beyond using short message services. The company was set up in 2015, when the internet’s infrastructure, in many markets, was poor. It now helps people share large files, for work and play, in a much faster and seamless way, without spending money on the internet.

SHAREit has become one of the fastest growing apps globally. To date, nearly 2.4 billion users have installed SHAREit Group’s diversified suite of applications in 150+ countries.

What other segments does it focus on, and how are they relevant to its core business?

SHAREit started off as a platform that allowed people to share anything from one phone to another phone seamlessly without the internet. Its growth is built on the principle of sharing, which is facilitated by high-quality user experience and word of mouth marketing. ​​Then it realised that, especially in Asia, Middle East and Africa, the power of peer-to-peer recommendation was a very strong habit.

SHAREit is a non-traditional publisher; it has become a marketing platform of choice for mobile marketers, as they look to drive quality users and branding. SHAREit is supporting the growth of leading companies - big enterprises to startups - from gaming and fintech space across the globe. The clients cover multiple fields including e-commerce, entertainment, gaming, internet-financing and E-learning, etc.

SHAREit works with more than 700 global advertisers to help them with awareness campaigns, user acquisition, and seamless user monetization via extensive audience networks. Its advertising platform is pivoting to address the needs of global clients in multiple fields. The focus has been on growth verticals, which include sectors like e-commerce, fintech, retail, banking, crypto, food tech, and travel.

How important and successful is the Middle East market to SHAREit?

With consistent advances in terms of file sharing and content discovery, SHAREit has successfully leveraged the popularity of building a social ecosystem and a trusted technology company that empowers businesses to grow.

According to the 14th edition of AppsFlyer Performance Report released in 2022, SHAREit ranked 4th globally in terms of volume and power rankings within non-gaming categories and 7th in In-App Purchases (IAP) index across all categories.

In terms of Middle East, SHAREit was ranked No. 1 fastest growing media publisher in the Middle East in 2020 in AppsFlyer Performance Index 12. As per the latest AppsFlyer performance index 14, SHAREit ranks Top 3 in the Retention index for the Life & Culture category on volume ranking and Top 10 in the IAA index for all categories in the gaming industry.

The rankings spotlight SHAREit's unique product offering and a wide array of features that not only make the application popular amongst customers but also an indispensable and trusted resource for marketers.

What percentage of SHAREit users are in the MENA region? And do their interests differ greatly from one country to another?

SHAREit is based in Singapore so we are closest to our biggest market Southeast Asia. 80 to 90% of our user base is in Asia, Middle East and Africa. For MENA, SHAREit has over 70 million monthly active users in this region.

In terms of a difference in interests, for example, the gaming app is the most likely shared app category in SEA countries; it can reach around 50% of the total shared apps. But in MENA like Saudi Arabia and UAE, the app category in communications, tool and game rate are top 3 categories with less difference. But if you look at Egypt, for example, the internet is not that great, so gaming app is the most shared app category there.

What are your main goals and plans for the next year?

We are strategically positioning our company to effectively support our development strategy and increase our value-added offerings for clients.

In the new financial year, our focus has been on growth verticals, which includes sectors like e-commerce, fintech, retail, banking, crypto, foodtech and travel. Within the region, we are also focusing on growth markets like Saudi Arabia & Egypt. Our objective will be to ensure that we add massive value and growth to our partners with strong performance solutions in the GCC region.

We are expanding our business in Europe & US and attracting international talent to grow globally.