The problem
Most buying and selling in Syria still runs on word of mouth or handwritten signs on shop doors. Online alternatives are full of fake or misleading listings — one dead phone number and a used-car or fridge deal goes sideways — so Syrians have never had a dependable local marketplace.
How it works
Launched in 2025 by CEO Alaaeddin Zarzou and CTO Zafer Odabashi, Doushesh is a Damascus-based horizontal classifieds marketplace operating across multiple verticals nationwide. Early in 2026 the company brought in Adnan Khabbaz as Partner and Technical Advisor to tighten the buying-and-selling experience, with 2026 priorities set as even expansion across Syria’s provinces and stricter verification and listing-quality tools.
Pain points
Fake listings, unreliable sellers, uneven provincial coverage, and informal channels with no buyer protection or accountability.
Business model
Classifieds marketplace: value grows with verified listing volume and merchant presence, extended into real-estate and classifieds digital infrastructure through the strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia’s AQAR.
Challenges
An undisclosed and evidently small pre-seed base, the cost of expanding across provinces with fragile infrastructure, the constant trade-off between strict verification and listing supply, and shifting deeply informal selling habits onto a verified platform.
Funding
- Raised: pre-seed round closed January 2026, amount undisclosed (Arageek; AIM Group).
- Proposed: up to $480,000 strategic investment from Saudi Arabia’s AQAR via SAFE in milestone-tied tranches (September 2026 MoU, not yet a closed round).
Latest — September 2026
On 7 September 2026 Doushesh signed an MoU with AQAR CEO Ibrahim Al-Suhail paving the way for up to $480,000 in tranche-based SAFE funding plus cooperation on real-estate and classifieds digital infrastructure.