There may be more to classified ads platform Dubizzle Group’s scrapped IPO than market timing.
Kristie Neo, a UAE-based VC and tech journalist, gets into the prospectus: With the company posting four straight years of losses (a cumulative $245 million), it’s clear why it needed to raise cash, she writes in her Substack. Neo shows how the company is highly dependent on the UAE, and that most of its losses stem from employee shares: “They need to get this off the books” to justify a $2 billion valuation.
Dubizzle has been bulking up over the past year, acquiring Egypt’s Hatla2ee, which attracts more than 2 million monthly visitors across its website and mobile app, building on its portfolio of auto platforms, including DriveArabia. The company achieved unicorn status in 2020 after a funding round led by Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. It operates its namesake platform, as well as property sites Bayut and Zameen, and multiple auto sites.