Siin, the fastest-growing live shopping marketplace in MENA, today announced new funding, bringing its total capital raised to $3 million. The round was led by VentureSouq and Shift Group, with participation from Plus VC, Oqal, and other prominent regional investors including Suhail Al Gossaibi, Mussab Al Hakami, and Abdulla Al Hashmi.
Siin is also backed by leading regional programs, including Hub71, part of Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, and InspireU, the accelerator program by Saudi Telecom Company (stc). Founded in 2024 by seasoned marketplace operators, Hesham AlSaati (ex-Delivery Hero), Ahmed Allawi (ex-Tap Payments), and Khaled Albalooshi (ex-Telp). Siin is bringing live commerce to scale in a region where e-commerce has grown quickly but real-time, interactive shopping is still emerging.
“Commerce in MENA was never transactional; it’s social, interactive, and trust-driven,” said Ahmed Allawi, Co-founder of Siin. “From souqs to majalis, we’re now rebuilding that experience for a digital-first generation. By combining real-time engagement with a secure, community-driven marketplace, Siin is redefining how people connect, discover, and transact across the region.”
Siin enables users to buy and sell high-value goods through real-time livestreamed and gamified shopping experiences. Live commerce is taking off globally, and Siin is leading that shift regionally by powering thousands of sellers across the Gulf.
“In under a year, we’ve scaled across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman, driving new behaviors in live shopping and social commerce,” said Hesham AlSaati, Co-founder of Siin. “We’ve facilitated the sale of hundreds of thousands of items, with tens of thousands of hours of live streaming, showing clear signs of strong engagement and marketplace liquidity. As we’ve grown, it’s become clear that we are building the trust and safety layer for social commerce in the region, positioning Siin as a leading live shopping platform for the Gulf.”
The newly raised capital will be deployed to accelerate regional expansion, increase Siin’s footprint across key markets, and further strengthen its seller ecosystem, solidifying its position at the forefront of the region’s rapidly emerging live commerce market.
“Our platform is fully built in-house, and it’s already delivering at a level comparable to global leaders while being deeply integrated for the MENA region,” said Khaled Albalooshi, Co-founder of Siin.
“Siin is tapping into a powerful intersection of culture and technology,” said Suneel Gokhale, General Partner & Co-Founder, VentureSouq. “What stood out to us is the team’s ability to localise a global trend in a way that feels native to the region. By reimagining traditional trading behaviours through live, interactive formats, Siin is unlocking a new category of commerce in the GCC with significant scale potential.”
Commenting on the fundraising announcement, Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner of Plus VC, added: “Siin is building more than a product, it is shaping a new behavioral layer for commerce in the region. By digitizing culturally ingrained trading dynamics and combining them with cutting-edge live and AI capabilities, the team is creating a highly differentiated platform with strong network effects. We are excited to support Hesham, Ahmed, Khaled and their team as they are well-positioned to lead the evolution of social commerce and establish themselves as pioneers in this space.”
Building on this momentum, Siin is doubling down on supply growth, market expansion, and category leadership across the region. With a strong foundation in place, the company is well positioned to shape the future of live commerce and become a defining platform for social shopping in the Gulf.
