{"id":18008,"date":"2022-08-05T10:17:06","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T10:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/?p=18008"},"modified":"2022-08-19T09:44:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T09:44:13","slug":"live-e-commerce-platform-hoods-seeks-funding-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2022\/08\/05\/live-e-commerce-platform-hoods-seeks-funding-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Live e-commerce platform HOODS seeks funding round"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- VideographyWP Plugin Message: Automatic video embedding prevented by plugin options. --><br \/>\nHOODS, Egyptian-based live e-commerce platform, is seeking a seed funding round to finance its plans to expand across the region.<\/p>\n<p>HOODS is a live e-commerce platform combining online shopping experiences with entertainment, giving customers a convenient click-to-buy process.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2022\/07\/29\/zbooni-processes-200-million-in-transactions\/\">Influencers<\/a> can better connect with their consumer bases by uploading videos to and live broadcasting on the platform and promoting products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHOODS offers a unique experience to both shoppers and sellers through an app that is both easy to use and intuitive,\u201d said Mr Ghalwash, co-founder of HOODS.<\/p>\n<p>The platform was founded in the second half of 2020, with the aim to reimagine consumers\u2019 online shopping experiences.<\/p>\n<p>While the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2022\/06\/24\/social-media-commerce-will-benefit-smes-in-the-region-says-report\/\">TikTok and Instagram<\/a> operate e-commerce services, such platforms are unable to cater to consumers\u2019 wishes for instant buying experiences, said the company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTraditional e-commerce experiences are missing what is clearly becoming a growing expectation from younger generations,\u201d said Mostafa Hanafy, co-founder of HOODS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve built a platform that uniquely fuses shopping and entertainment in a compelling experience that combines the convenience of robust e-commerce with the excitement of live entertainment, and we make sure that products are delivered to the customers\u2019 doorstep with speed and minimum hassle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>HOODS received $350,000 in a pre-seed funding round earlier this year from angel investors in the entertainment, logistics, venture finance and fintech industries.<\/p>\n<p>The platform used the pre-seed funding round to create a robust platform and partner with finance solutions companies to offer customers various <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2022\/07\/29\/buy-now-pay-later-schemes-increasingly-popular-in-the-uae\/\">payment<\/a> methods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHOODS works to support younger generations at several levels. We help local brands create professional entertainment content that appeals to the digital consumer,\u201d Mr Hanafy added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also open the door for new influencers to communicate directly with brands and become their digital sales representatives, achieving immediate financial returns for both parties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a win-win for everyone and HOODS is set to be the propeller of this new version of digital commerce.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The region\u2019s e-commerce industry was valued at $29 billion last year and is expected to double by 2026 to top $57 billion, said HOODS.<\/p>\n<p>Live e-commerce is estimated to account for 14 per cent of the e-commerce market in 2026 and rake in $8 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Egyptian-based live e-commerce platform invites investors to finance seed funding round ahead of regional expansion plans. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":17790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[154,1,4106],"tags":[3973,4241,4242],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18008"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18012,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008\/revisions\/18012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}