Bahrain’s Sellou Bags US$3 Million In Seed Funding

Sellou, a Bahrain-based social commerce startup, has raised a seed funding round from undisclosed investors that values the company at US$3 million.  

With the fresh influx of funds, Sellou plans to advance its technology and scale its operations across the MENA region. A key focus will be integrating seamlessly with popular social and messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram to make video-first social selling more intuitive and accessible.  

Founded by Salman Al Khalifa in 2020, Sellou is on a mission to reshape the e-commerce space by blending interactive video content with tools that foster direct, real-time connections between buyers and sellers. It offers sellers a platform to showcase their products through short, engaging videos, while buyers can shop directly from the content. 

In a conversation with Inc. Arabia, Al Khalifa spoke about how the company is linking modern consumer behavior and outdated e-commerce experiences by harnessing the power of content-driven, artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced social commerce. “We noticed a gap between where e-commerce currently stands and the kind of content people are consuming daily," he explained. "It simply hasn’t kept up in our social media-based world. Our solution to that problem is Sellou—a place where shopping is done through content creation, not separately from it.” 

According to Al Khalifa, the new capital Sellou has secured will significantly accelerate its momentum. “This funding round has changed a lot for Sellou," he said. "The pace of work, the speed in which we can hit our goals, and the speed of launching our new offering [have] all drastically increased. We’re excited to share with the world what Sellou will be able to do for them and their businesses." 

According to Al Khalifa,  it is Sellou’s innovative approach to e-commerce that caught the attention of investors. “They were particularly interested in the direction the app was heading—a lot of which is going to be public this summer,” he said. “We’ve deeply innovated with AI to offer capabilities no existing app can provide. That’s what got investors truly excited, and played a major role in us closing this funding round.”  

As the company now sets its sights on expansion, the GCC will be the first regional focus, but its ambitions stretch far beyond. “We’re targeting the GCC market first, but we also know that our customers are scattered globally," he said. "Since our offering is pure software, we’ll be focusing on our main ideal customer profile, even outside the region."

He added, “The biggest challenge we anticipate simply comes from the speed in which AI technology and offerings are entering the market. It feels like a land-grab with many companies on the international stage competing to offer the best user experience in the shortest amount of time.” 

Reflecting on the future of social commerce, Al Khalifa is confident that the space is still in its early days. “I would argue social commerce is nowhere near its full potential," he said. "We’ve seen a lot of products launch in the social commerce space, and many fail. The focus over the last five years has been live streaming, but at Sellou, we’ve strategically chosen not to focus on that, and to shift instead to content. We believe we’ll be at the forefront of this offering, and I believe it will become the norm over the next decade.” 

When asked what advice he’d give to other entrepreneurs building tech solutions in the MENA region, Al Khalifa emphasized the importance of three key ingredients in the early stages of any startup. “First, they need to be determined," he said. "Startups take time, and often require a strong sense of determination and courage to be realized. Second, they’ll need some domain expertise. They need to be a consumer of what they want to build, or even better, be good enough at programming to bring their own dreams to life. Third, they need to be able to sell. Selling is an essential part of any business, and without the skills to get people interested in your product, it’s incredibly difficult to keep going." 

Pictured in image is Sellou founder Salman Al Khalifa. Image courtesy Sellou.