Muslim Assistant app wins first investment, from Turkish tech major Teknasyon

The company behind the Muslim Assistant app has received its first-ever investment, from Turkish tech major Teknasyon.

Izmir-based Assistant App Teknoloji A.S. did not disclose the investment amount.

The company told Salaam Gateway it will be using the funds to expand its team, that currently comprises twelve people.

“[O]ur main two focus areas will be user acquisition and growth acceleration,” said the company.

Teknasyon said on its website it supports ventures it believes have the potential to become global. The tech major is best known as an app publisher but it has a dedicated investment channel for start-ups. Its diverse portfolio includes Panteon Games that it acquired in 2016, healthcare app Moovbuddy, e-commerce platform Sopsy and autism-focused educational platform Otsimo.

Muslim Assistant launched in December 2015. Since then it has been downloaded 25 million times and has 1.6 million active users, according to Assistant App Teknoloji. Its top ten markets are Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France, Malaysia, Germany, United States, Indonesia, United Kingdom, and India.

The app works on a freemium revenue model.

It provides users with prayer tools including qibla direction, locating nearby mosques, prayer times, adhan, dhikr counter, quran, and duas.

It provides similar features to the pioneer in this category, Muslim Pro, that recently became mired in controversy after a news exposé alleged its user data was being sold to the American military via a data broker. Bitsmedia, the company behind Muslim Pro, told Salaam Gateway it terminated its relationship with X-Mode, the data broker it was selling user data to, saying it was unaware of any dealings the company might have had with American defence contractors.

Muslim Assistant founder and CEO Caner Bayraktar made sure to address the user data issue in a media statement on Wednesday (Dec 9). “Our app does not collaborate with any third party data broker and no personal data is being stored or shared,” said Bayraktar.

Looking forward to 2021, the company plans to add new sections and features, it said.

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