Malaysia streaming platform for Muslim children raises $2.8m

The Durioo team / Photo credit: Durioo

Malaysia-based Durioo+, an Islamic video-streaming platform for children, has raised US$2.85 million in a seed round led by Y Combinator and Gobi Partners. The round also saw former employees of Meta, Google, and IQIYI participate as angel investors.

In February 2022, founder Sinan Ismail launched Durioo+ to provide an edutainment alternative to Muslim children. The startup graduated from Y Combinator’s winter batch of the same year.

Since then, Durioo+ has also produced 20 original programs and licensed over 1,500 episodes from series such as Baby Shark and Upin & Ipin. The firm says it has also recorded over 22,000 subscribers. The platform charges subscribers about US$7.99 a month or US$79.99 annually.

The startup says that over the next five years, it wants to diversify its viewership base in countries and regions such as the UK, the US, Indonesia, the Middle East, and North Africa. It also aims to create more original content and launch Durioo Games. Durioo+ targets having 100,000 subscribers by 2023 and 1 million subscribers by 2026.

See also: The lowdown on Malaysia’s new $804m tech budget

With initiatives such as the Islamic Digital Economy and nearly 64% of its population identifying as Muslim, Malaysia has become a hotbed for halal tech startups.

Other investors that participated in this round include:

• Uncommon Capital
• Lynett Capital
• New Venture Order
• Innate Capital