Yamli

Yamli operates as a specialized internet technology firm focused on enhancing the accessibility and usability of the Arabic web. The company was established in November 2007 by co-founders Habib Haddad and Imad Jureidini. The idea originated from Haddad's personal experience during the 2006 Lebanon war, when he struggled to access Arabic news online without a physical Arabic keyboard. This frustration, coupled with the widespread use of "Arabizi"—typing Arabic phonetically with Latin characters—inspired the creation of Yamli.

Habib Haddad, who served as CEO, brought an engineering background and a passion for entrepreneurship to the venture. Before Yamli, he co-founded INLET (International Network of Lebanese Entrepreneurs and Technologists) and initiated Relief Lebanon, a grassroots relief effort. Imad Jureidini, with over a decade of experience in software architecture and development, was responsible for the technical execution of the platform. The duo met while working at a previous startup, Mok3. The company launched with a small seed round of $125,000, with angel investors including early Google employee Georges Harik.

Yamli’s core offering is its transliteration technology, which powers two main products. The first is a smart Arabic keyboard that allows users to type in a web browser using Latin characters and see them converted into Arabic script in real-time. This addresses a major hurdle for Arabic speakers accustomed to English keyboards. The second product is an Arabic search engine that improves search relevance by expanding an Arabic query to include its most common transliterated Latin-character variations. This unique selling point allows users to find content regardless of how it was originally written.

Initially, Yamli operated on a consumer-focused, ad-driven business model. However, the company later pivoted towards a B2B strategy centered on licensing its transliteration technology. This shift led to a landmark deal in 2012, when Yahoo! acquired a license to integrate Yamli's technology into its Middle East and North Africa services, including mail, messenger, and search, under the product name "3arrebni" (Arabize me). The technology is also offered to other businesses, such as financial institutions for searching names with multiple spelling variations in internal databases, and for companies looking to optimize their content for search engines. A public API has also enabled numerous Arabic websites to integrate the transliteration tool directly.

Keywords: Arabic transliteration, Arabic smart keyboard, Arabic search engine, Arabizi to Arabic, language technology, Habib Haddad, Imad Jureidini, Arabic web, B2B licensing, API, natural language processing, FinTech Arabic search, Middle East technology, online Arabic typing, search query expansion, language analytics, Yahoo Maktoob, cross-lingual information retrieval, Arabic SEO