Official Press Conference: Match Group Acquires Harmonica as Flat6Labs Fully Exits Cairo, Egypt

On the 4th of September, we bore witness to the official press conference of the acquisition of the matchmaking app Harmonica by the tech giant, Match Group; as well as, Flat6Labs full exit from the marriage app. Harmonica’s CEO, Sameh Saleh; Match Group’s CEO of EMEA & APAC, Alexandre Lubot; Flat6Labs’ Co-founder, Ahmed El Alfi; and Hona Al Shabab Presenter, Lamees El Hadidy, along with a number of other renowned investors, journalists, and supporters of the application were there to celebrate the occasion and talk about the future plans of Harmonica.

During the press conference, Sameh Saleh, CEO & Cofounder of Harmonica, highlighted that their belief “that every culture is unique on its own, is why we created the Harmonica App.” He also added that he is delighted to be part of the Match Group, which will eventually enable Harmonica’s team to further develop the application and expand beyond the bounds of Egypt, and even the MENA region. On another note, the matchmaking guru, said,

“I want to thank Flat6Labs because they believed in us and supported us since the very beginning.” — Sameh Saleh, CEO & Co-founder of Harmonica

Shortly afterwards, Alexandre Lubot, Match Group’s CEO of EMEA & APAC, said that “there is nothing more important to us than helping people find love,” and that through the acquisition of the conservative marriage app they are planning on expanding their reach to more MENA and South-East Asian countries.

The plans of expansion and this acquisition deal pay testament to the capabilities of the young Egyptian entrepreneurs, whom Lamees El Hadidy, Presenter of Hona Al Shabab thoroughly supports through her TV program.

“We should always talk about the future. We should always talk about our startups and the young founders we have,” Hadidy said.

Being one of the early supporters of Harmonica, especially after they ranked 2nd in Hona Al Shabab competition, Hadidy had few words to say about the progress they have made in only 18 months after the Flat6Labs Cairo acceleration period. She also highlighted the role that accelerators play in supporting this ecosystem, and stressed that

“Ahmed El Alfi, Flat6Labs’ Co-founder, role is very important in this ecosystem, and I commend him on continuing to provide space and support for entrepreneurs to innovate and scale.”

By the end of the press conference, El Alfi had a closing word to celebrate this milestone, and to congratulate the Flat6Labs, Harmonica, and Match Groups’ teams on coming this far. El Alfi’s belief in Egyptian startups is what got him and other Co-founders to kick off Sawari Ventures, then Flat6Labs Cairo. This belief is also restated in

“Ideas are open source, execution is proprietary,”

where he emphasised that Harmonica’s efforts, diligence and hard-work is what got them to the point where a $20bn company acquired them.

After El Alfi’s last words, the day concluded with a party that hosted all those who have taken part in this success and key players in the local and international startup ecosystem.