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The Jeddah startup’s $1.2 million round backs a marketplace connecting live demonstrations and auctions with the work of completing an order.
Saudi live-shopping company Rwaj is using a $1.2 million pre-seed round to develop a marketplace that connects a product demonstration with the less visible work of taking payment and completing delivery. The Jeddah-based business, founded in 2024 by Taher Alblowe, announced the financing in September as it prepared to expand its platform across the region.
The funding announcement, reported on September 4, puts the round at SAR 4.5 million. Participating investors were not named. Rwaj said the money would support product development and regional growth, with merchants able to sell through both fixed-price offers and live auctions.
The wider story is about where a social-media shopping session ends. A viewer can discover an item in a broadcast, but the purchase still needs an agreed price, a payment method, a delivery record and a process for releasing the seller’s money. Rwaj is bringing those stages into the same marketplace at a time when electronic payments account for a growing share of Saudi retail transactions.
A broadcast connected to an order
In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Alblowe described a gap between the way people discover products and the way purchases are completed. His assessment was that sellers already use social platforms to demonstrate goods, while ordering, payments and fulfilment can take place elsewhere. That is the founder’s explanation of the opportunity, rather than a measured estimate of the Saudi live-commerce market.
His emphasis was on adapting the format to Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC. He identified fashion, accessories, beauty and other specialist products as categories in which seeing an item and asking questions can influence a purchase. The company is therefore building around a retail interaction, rather than limiting itself to one category of goods.
That approach gives live commerce a different rhythm from a conventional product catalogue. A fixed-price sale can happen during a demonstration; an auction makes the price itself part of the event. The commercial transaction remains recognisable, but the presentation, customer questions and purchase decision occupy the same session. Both formats are included in Rwaj’s announced model.
Saudi payments provide the foundation
Saudi Arabia’s payment figures provide a concrete backdrop. The Saudi Central Bank reported that electronic payments represented 85% of retail payment transactions in 2025, compared with 79% in 2024. The number of electronic transactions processed through national payment systems reached 14.6 billion, up from 12.6 billion.
Those are payment-system figures, not a measure of online shopping or livestream purchases. They nevertheless show that a new retail format is being introduced into a market where paying electronically is already routine. The six-percentage-point increase in the retail share also places Rwaj’s launch within an established change in how transactions are settled.
For live shopping, the relevant question is how that payment infrastructure connects to the sale being watched. Rwaj’s announcement identifies Mada, Apple Pay and cards among its payment options. These are familiar payment methods attached to a different selling format, rather than evidence that a new marketplace has already secured a particular share of Saudi spending.
The transaction continues after the stream
Rwaj’s published transaction process starts with sellers listing products and hosting a broadcast. Buyers can ask questions, bid or purchase at a fixed price. The company says payment is held in escrow and released after the buyer confirms the item has arrived as described. The seller remains responsible for shipping the product.
The significance is the connection between the payment and the delivery milestone. A livestream generates the order, but the transaction is not treated as finished when the broadcast ends. In Rwaj’s stated process, confirmation of what arrived determines when sale proceeds move to the seller. That creates a defined sequence linking the screen-based interaction to the physical item.
Independent research underlines why payment and delivery belong in the same discussion as online discovery. DHL’s 2026 e-commerce research, covering 29,000 shoppers and 5,800 businesses across 29 countries, found that 62% of shoppers said they would abandon a purchase if their preferred payment method was unavailable. Only 45% of surveyed businesses recognised that issue as a key reason for abandonment.
The same research found that trust and choice of delivery partners mattered to seven in ten shoppers when choosing a brand. These are international findings, not Saudi-specific results, but they explain why the infrastructure behind a broadcast deserves attention alongside the audience it attracts. A watched product and a completed purchase are different measures.
Social shopping gains a dedicated marketplace
The broader shift predates Rwaj’s financing. In its 2025 shopper survey, DHL found that seven in ten respondents had bought through social media. The study covered 24,000 online shoppers in 24 markets. The same proportion expected social platforms to become their main shopping destination by 2030, an indication of expectations rather than a confirmed forecast.
Social-media purchases cover more than livestreaming, and those findings do not establish the size of the market available to Rwaj. They do, however, locate its proposition within a wider change: discovery and purchasing increasingly share a social setting, while the merchant still needs the operational machinery of a retailer.
For Rwaj, the next announced step is to use the pre-seed capital for product development and regional expansion. Its September financing supports a specific proposition: keeping the demonstration, price, payment and shipment connected as a purchase moves from a live audience to a delivered order.
