Bahrain-born live shopping platform Siin has raised $3 million in a round led by VentureSouq and Shift Group, with participation from Plus VC, Oqal, and other regional investors.
- Bahrain-born live shopping platform Siin has raised $3 million in a round led by VentureSouq and Shift Group, with participation...
- The funding brings fresh momentum to the company’s efforts to scale live commerce across the Gulf region.
- The platform has expanded across six GCC markets in under 18 months.
- By combining real-time engagement with a secure, community-driven marketplace, Siin is redefining how people connect, discover, and transact across the...
Keep reading for the full breakdown on Bahrain startup funding — everything you need to know is covered below.
The funding brings fresh momentum to the company’s efforts to scale live commerce across the Gulf region.
Founded in 2024 by marketplace veterans Hesham AlSaati (formerly Delivery Hero), Ahmed Allawi (formerly Tap Payments), and Khaled Albalooshi (formerly Telp), Siin enables users to buy and sell high-value goods through livestreamed and gamified shopping experiences. The platform has expanded across six GCC markets in under 18 months.
Live commerce meets Gulf culture
“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.”
Investors say this localisation of a global trend was a key attraction. “What stood out to us is the team’s ability to localise a global trend in a way that feels native to the region,” said Suneel Gokhale, General Partner and Co-Founder of VentureSouq. “By reimagining traditional trading behaviours through live, interactive formats, Siin is unlocking a new category of commerce in the GCC.”
Co-founder Hesham AlSaati said the platform has “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” across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman.
Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner of Plus VC, described Siin as “shaping a new behavioral layer for commerce in the region,” adding that by digitizing culturally ingrained trading dynamics and combining them with live and AI capabilities, the company is building a differentiated platform with strong network effects.
Siin is also backed by regional acceleration programs Hub71, part of Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, and InspireU, the accelerator arm of Saudi Telecom Company. The fresh capital will support expansion across GCC markets, growth of its seller ecosystem, and continued product development.