Soum, a Saudi recommerce provider and C2C platform that has been thriving in the shadows since its establishment in 2021, has declared its presence with a $4 million seed investment. Beginning with consumer electronics, the business has set ambitious goals on its own, including rethinking the recommerce sector in the MENA region while serving with the motto of being a “convenient, trustworthy, and transparent marketplace.”
Although reselling products is common in the West, it is frowned upon in the Middle East, where it is seen as the purchase of second-hand, less expensive commodities.
The financing, led by Outliers Venture Capital, a US-based global VC firm, and prominent Saudi entrepreneur Mazen Al-Jubeir, positions Soum to realise its goal of improving the recommerce issues in the form of a post-pandemic e-commerce boom in particular.
Mazen Al-Jubeir points out that “the Soum founders have assembled one of the best teams in the region and built an incredible culture of teamwork, execution, and customer focus. It’s been inspiring to watch their progress, and they’re only getting started.”
The worldwide recommerce and resale market are expected to expand by roughly 10% yearly, but the development in MENA is far slower, which Soum co-founder and CEO Fahad Al Hassan attributes to poor user experience and the ad-heavy networks that do exist in the region. Al Hassan, together with co-founders Fahad Albassam and Bader Almubarak, feels there is a significant possibility, despite the fact that just 12% of consumer electronics resales in Saudi Arabia are done online.
Al Hasan argues that “we are tackling a serious customer pain point and offering a solution that is an order-of-magnitude better than any other substitute. Although we have grown exceptionally fast, we are still at the very beginning of capturing a huge market opportunity.” He went on to say that the business had already handled “millions of dollars in annualised sales.”
The Recommerce Sector Is Slowly Picking Up in the Middle East and Beyond
Ecommerce has seen a spectacular 200 per cent annual increase in capital invested, with over $600 million raised in the MENA area alone in 2021. For many, this indicates that the industry is ready to diversify. And it is due to the success of B2B solutions, with Sary, another Saudi firm, setting the pace with the biggest fundraising round of the year, a $75 million Series C round.
If we look into the MENAP region, Pakistan has proven to be a prime spot for B2B e-commerce, with Tazah and Bazaar accounting for 70% of all funds collected in 2021.
Soum will use the $4 million investment to further establish and maintain its system, as well as explore future market growth, in order to capitalise on a $40 billion potential, according to the owners. The firm is currently only accessible as an iOS app, and vendors have listed just over 120 gadgets, including televisions, smartwatches, smartphones, headphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and desktop computers.
