Maktoob.com: “This is Only the Beginning”

Founded in 1998, as a free e-mail service in the Arabic language, Maktoob.com is now the juggernaut of consumer internet sites in the Middle East through its portal. The Company boasts that it is “the world’s largest Arab online community” – which is accurate.

The Maktoob.com portal is held by the aptly named Maktoob Group, which also owns the following internet properties: Bentehalal.com – a matrimonial site, Sport4ever.com – a sports oriented online community, Araby.com – “the first Arabic search engine”, Souq.com – an eBay for the Middle East, and CashU – a PayPal-esque site for the region.

Of all the startups in the region, Maktoob has certainly received more media attention that any else, both locally and abroad. In part this has to due to Maktoob’s age; it was one of the earliest internet sites catering to the Middle East and has seen its share of ups and downs in the global internet life cycle. Samih Toukan, CEO of Maktoob, still refers to this time as the beginning for Maktoob, which then begs the question where is the end?

Maktoob has been profitable for quite some time and given its age, it’s lived the average of two startups in Silicon Valley. It remains to be seen what the exit will be for Maktoob’s investors. IPO’ing is not really in the picture, either regionally or in Europe or America, so that leaves open the door to getting acquired and that’s about it. If and when Maktoob has a liquidity event will not only be good for Maktoon and its investors, but could be the first tech. startup success story in a region where if you have some extra money lying around you invest in real estate.

To date, Maktoob has been backed by EFG Hermes (~$2.5mm), Abraaj Capital ($5.2mm) and Tiger Global ($5.25mm).

I had a chance to chat with Samih Toukan, CEO of Maktoob. The conversation follows below:
Part 1: The Technology Environment in the Middle East
Part 1.mp3

Part 2: Running a Startup in Jordan
Part 2.mp3