HOODS: The first live entertainment shopping platform in the Middle East

HOODS: The first live entertainment shopping platform in the Middle East

Egypt - Hoods, the first live entertainment shopping platform in the Middle East is seeking a seed funding round to support its expansion plan.

Hoods was founded by Mostafa Hanafi in Egypt at the end of 2020 and co-founded by Waleed Ghalwashthrough a pre-seed funding round in 2022 of $350,000 that included angel investors from the entertainment, logistics, venture finance, and fintech sectors, leading to the launch of the new version of the platform’s application across the Apple and Play Stores.

The e-commerce market in MENA is believed to have reached $29bn in revenues in 2021 and is projected to double by 2026 to reach $57bn. The live e-commerce sub–sector is also expected to constitute 14% of that market by 2026 to deliver $8bn in revenues.

Hoods Founding Partner Mostafa Hanafi — who graduated from the American University in Cairo’sincubator AUC Venture Lab — said his team is creating the first platform in the Middle East to offer e-commerce integrated with entertainment and live broadcasting.

Hanafi believes that capturing the live e-commerce opportunity requires a re-imagination of the consumer experience.

“Traditional e–commerce experiences are missing what is clearly becoming a growing expectation from younger generations,” he says, referring to entertainment and interaction standards being set