Jeddah-based Rwaj has raised USD 1.2 million (SAR 4.5M) in pre-seed funding. It seeks to scale its live social shopping and auction marketplace across the region. Moreover, it plans to use the capital to accelerate growth and product development.

The startup will use the pre-seed funding to accelerate product development and growth across the region. Thus, bringing livestream selling, auctions, payments, and shipping into one platform.

Why You Should Care

Live selling is already widely used by independent sellers across Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, but much of that activity takes place through social media. Sellers showcase products during livestreams, collect orders through comments or direct messages, and often handle payments and fulfillment separately.

Rwaj is building infrastructure around that behavior. Its platform allows sellers to livestream products, offer them at fixed prices, or run timed auctions where buyers bid in real time.

The platform also addresses some of the friction that comes with social commerce. Payments are held in escrow until delivery is confirmed, while shipping is handled through integrated carriers. Buyers can pay using Mada, Apple Pay, or cards.

The Details

Founded in 2024 by Taher Alblowe, Rwaj is a live social shopping and auction marketplace. It lets sellers stream live and sell at a fixed price or through live auctions. It provides escrow-protected payments, integrated shipping, and an Arabic-first bilingual experience. 

“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. 

Rather than limiting the marketplace to a specific product category, Rwaj is designed for products that benefit from being demonstrated live. Sellers can choose between fixed-price sales and auctions depending on the product and selling format.

The company is also positioning Rwaj as a social marketplace rather than simply a transaction platform. Buyers can follow sellers, discover new sellers through the community, and return to future livestreams. This gives sellers a way to build an audience that extends beyond an individual stream.

The Ripple

Rwaj’s model brings several parts of live commerce into a single transaction flow, from livestreaming and bidding to payment and fulfillment.

For sellers, this could reduce the need to coordinate sales, payments, and shipping across separate channels. For buyers, escrow protection provides a layer of transaction security that is not necessarily present when purchases are arranged directly through social media.

Its GCC-wide seller network also gives Rwaj a regional expansion path. Meanwhile, its international buyer base could allow sellers on the platform to reach customers beyond their home markets.

What to Watch

The next phase will show whether Rwaj can turn existing social selling behavior into sustained activity on its own platform.

The key signals will be seller adoption and repeat buyer engagement. Other signals will be how effectively the company scales its integrated payments, escrow, and shipping infrastructure across the GCC. Its ability to expand beyond the region while maintaining that end-to-end experience will also be worth watching.