VerSe Innovation appoints Shekhar Iyer as the Director and General Manager for the Middle East and North Africa

VerSe Innovation, India’s leadinglocal language technology platform, today announced its foray into the global market, with the launch of Dailyhunt, Indian local language content platform in the Middle East (ME) countries. To spearhead Dailyhunt’s leadership in the MENA region, media veteran Shekhar Iyer has been appointed as director and general manager of VerSe Innovation, MENA.

VerSe Innovation, whose proprietary technology powers Dailyhunt has rolled out its offering of Dailyhunt in the Middle East countries including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait with its headquarters in Dubai. Dailyhunt has launched in the ME region with over 5000 content partners catering to the UAE market. The local language content platform will soon be partnering with news publishers including MENA Newswire, Al Khaleej, The Brew, Chalk Media, Brandknew, KKompany, Mudgal Kreations, Buzzing, Gulf Today, among others.

Commenting on the global expansion, Umang Bedi, co-founder, VerSe Innovation said, “UAE is one of the world's most vibrant economies and is experiencing an exponential phase of growth. As a part of our global expansion strategy, we are excited to bring Dailyhunt to audiences in the Middle East Market. Dailyhunt has constantly strived to deliver content that has informed, enriched, and entertained audiences in different languages. There is a tremendous opportunity to tap into the unmet content needs of the Middle East market, given the rich linguistic diversity and an extensive news consumption behavior of the market. In this strategic growth plan, we will soon expand Dailyhunt in MENA countries including Iraq, Iran, Israel, and Egypt, and support languages like Hebrew, Farsi, and Arabic.”

The digital media landscape is very promising in the MENA region and is poised for rapid growth. Hence, strengthening VerSe Innovation’s leadership in MENA, Shekhar Iyer’s appointment as Director and General Manager of VerSe Innovation, MENA, will act as a change catalyst. In his previous stints, Shekhar has worked with Abu Dhabi Media (Radio Mirchi), Percept Gulf (MAME), Zee Entertainment, Indian Express, and Khaleej Times and in his new role, he will spearhead strategic and business development in the region.

Speaking about the launch and his appointment, Shekhar Iyer, director and general manager, VerSe Innovation, MENA said, "I am thrilled to join VerSe Innovation and I am convinced that Dailyhunt will deliver outstanding results to our partners and advertisers. It is interesting to witness the end-user content growth in this region, and we are excited to see the impact that Dailyhunt creates in MENA.

In addition to helping brands drive awareness, acquire users, and generate revenue, we are confident in enhancing the overall customer experience and deepening brand relationships. I look forward to building the largest local language content discovery platform for the MENA region.”