Soum

Soum operates a re-commerce marketplace for second-hand goods in the MENA region, with Saudi Arabia as its principal market. The company launched with second-hand electronics and has since expanded into used cars and collectibles. Its platform combines guaranteed product quality, delivery services and buy-now-pay-later installment options, the latter offered through partnerships with Tabby and Tamara.

The business has scaled quickly. It has facilitated hundreds of thousands of transactions within two years of launch and serves more than 150 locations across Saudi Arabia, with roughly 10,000 active listings at any given time. The Soum app has been downloaded over 5 million times and ranked as the tenth most downloaded e-commerce app in Saudi Arabia in 2023. The company describes itself as the market leader in the Saudi second-hand marketplace segment.

Engineering work spans marketplace platform development, mobile app development, e-commerce systems, payment integrations, and logistics and delivery technology. Building for this market involves handling trust and quality guarantees at scale, integrating third-party payment providers, and supporting fulfilment across a wide geographic footprint.

Soum positions convenience and trustworthiness as its core brand values, with an emphasis on a seamless, secure and accessible user experience. Its growth has been partnership-driven and category-led, moving from electronics into adjacent verticals within the wider MENA region.