Middle East live shopping evolves as Rwaj secures US$1.2mn

The Middle Eastern e-commerce landscape is undergoing a significant transformation.

No longer confined to static product catalogues and traditional online storefronts, retail in the region is rapidly pivoting towards social commerce and interactive live shopping. Capitalising on this behavioural shift, Jeddah-based startup Rwaj has recently raised US$1.2mn (SAR 4.5 million) in a pre-seed funding round. The investment aims to scale the company's live social shopping and auction marketplace across the region, reflecting a broader trend of formalising the social retail economy.

Across Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), independent sellers, boutique brands, and local merchants have already embraced live selling. However, this burgeoning sector has historically operated through highly fragmented channels. Until recently, sellers would showcase their merchandise via social media livestreams, collect orders through direct messages or scattered comment threads, and manually coordinate payments and logistics on separate platforms.

While this grassroots approach to social commerce demonstrates clear consumer demand and high engagement, it introduces substantial friction. The lack of integrated infrastructure often results in security risks for buyers and heavy administrative burdens for sellers. Managing inventory, tracking payments, and dispatching couriers manually is not scalable. The digital retail space has urgently required a robust solution to standardise these interactions, bringing reliability and trust to a sector that heavily relies on real-time product demonstration.

Standardising social commerce

Rwaj, founded in 2024 by Taher Alblowe, was established specifically to build secure, reliable infrastructure around this existing consumer behaviour. By consolidating livestream selling, auction mechanics, digital payments, and shipping into a single application, the platform aims to eliminate the logistical headaches associated with independent social retail.

The start-up is utilising its $1.2 million capital injection to accelerate product development and regional growth, focusing heavily on delivering an Arabic-first bilingual experience tailored to the local demographic. Rather than restricting its marketplace to a specific category of goods, the platform accommodates any product that benefits from live demonstration, from electronics to fashion and collectables.

Rwaj’s integrated system provides several key operational features designed to streamline the sales pipeline:

• Flexible Sales Formats: Sellers can stream live and choose to offer their inventory at fixed prices or run timed auctions where buyers submit bids in real time.

• Secure Payment Escrow: To eliminate the transaction risks associated with informal social commerce, funds are held securely in escrow until the buyer confirms the successful delivery of their item.

• Diverse Payment Integration: The platform supports seamless, immediate checkouts using Mada, Apple Pay, and standard debit or credit cards.

• Automated Logistics: Shipping is handled directly through integrated carriers, completely removing the need for sellers to manually book external couriers or manage tracking numbers.

This deep consolidation of services ensures that neither the buyer nor the seller needs to migrate to a third-party application to finalise a sale.

“We built Rwaj so a seller can go live, sell at a fixed price or by auction, get paid, and ship without leaving the app, and a buyer can purchase or bid knowing their money is protected until the item is in their hands,” said Taher Alblowe, Founder and CEO of Rwaj.

Building a retail community

The ambition behind formalising livestream retail extends beyond simply providing a transactional utility. Rwaj is strategically positioning itself as a social marketplace. The digital ecosystem is designed to foster ongoing, long-term relationships between merchants and consumers. Buyers are actively encouraged to follow their favourite sellers, discover new retail entrepreneurs through the wider community, and consistently return for future scheduled livestreams. This infrastructure gives independent retailers a measurable way to build a loyal audience that persists well beyond any individual broadcast.

The next critical phase of growth for the digital economy in the Middle East will depend on whether these existing social selling behaviours can be permanently migrated onto dedicated, structured platforms. For Rwaj, this means leveraging its GCC-wide seller network as a foundation for broader regional expansion. Furthermore, the platform’s structured payment and shipping integrations provide local sellers with a viable, risk-free pathway to reach an international buyer base, effectively opening up global markets from a smartphone camera.

This pre-seed funding round signals a rapidly maturing market. As interactive shopping transitions from informal social media streams to dedicated, escrow-protected environments, the standard for online retail in the Middle East is being redefined.