On Tuesday (January 20th), Alchemiya, a premium online subscription-based video on demand platform for Muslim entertainment, launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube to raise £60,000 so that it may expand its already growing services.
According to the campaign, Alchemiya aims to present the world’s best content about Muslim life; the positive side, showing the contributions of Islam and Muslim people to humanity, rather than what others see in the mainstream media.
The company’s team shared, “Alchemiya is a silent majority: the 99.9% of Muslims who lead peaceful, product lives as citizens of the world. Alchemiya plans to show entertaining, thoughtful and cultured TV programs and films that are fully engaged with the contemporary issues of today, and at the same time remain true to core Islamic values. In addition to serving the Muslim audience Alchemiya also aims to attract growing numbers of non-Muslims across the world, who share similar concerns, values and interests.”
Also noting Alchemiya’s key audience, the team noted, “Our target market is the ABC1 socio-economic group of Muslims worldwide: educated, English speaking, living in major urban centers. We call them Global Urban Muslims (“GUMmies”). In 2010 the global Muslim population was estimated at 1.6 billion. We estimate our target market to be 10%, or 160 million people. Our business plan is built on achieving 1% penetration of that target market within 5 years: 1.6 million people at £60 per annum gives a subscription revenue target of £96 million. Our year 5 targets are revenue of £76 million and operating profit of £12 million.
Alchemiya considerably made history by becoming the first Muslim media company to debut a public equity crowdfunding campaign. Founder and CEO Navid Akhtar, who started his career with the BBC and has worked in the mainstream UK television production market for over 20 years, told Aquila Style, “We have a very wide range of content, including arts, culture, food and lifestyle that people haven’t seen before. This is what makes Alchemiya unique.”
Partner and chief communication officer of Alchemiya, Ajmal Masroor added, “I am humbled by the confidence we have received from people of all backgrounds, including our Founder Subscribers, who are both Muslim and non-Muslim. This has created unprecedented excitement in the wider community.”
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