UAE’s Hamples raises pre-Seed round from Nama Ventures

• UAE-based try-before-you-buy e-commerce Hamples has raised pre-Seed funding round for an undisclosed amount by ​Nama Ventures.
• Founded in 2021 by Aditi & Gaurav Oberoi, Hamples is a direct-to-consumer (D2C) digital discovery platform for brands to trial-based advertise (try_vertise) and deliver trial packs to targeted consumers.
• The new funding will help Hamples achieve its target to become a destination for users to discover new launches, try new products, and experience innovation from the conform of their home.

Press release:

Hamples – Happy Samples, e-commerce of Free Samples & Mini-Trial packs for everyone to Try Before They Buy announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Seed funding round by ​Nama Ventures.

There are many online and offline channels to buy but there is none to Try Before we Buy. One needs to be lucky to get matched to the sample of a product they are in-market for. On the other side, the brands depend on traditional channels to generate trials, a proven strategy to create awareness, drive sales and build long term customer loyalty. 

Wife-husband startup was founded in May 2021, Hamples is a launchpad for brands to Try_Vertise (trial-based advertise) and uses brand products as a marketing vehicle. Both, Aditi & Gaurav Oberoi, started their entrepreneurial journey 14 years ago from their MBA college library. 

After successfully launching their first online venture together in 2007, they turned into educators and since then, they have mastered the subject and trained corporates & professionals from across the world on digital marketing and transformation, e-commerce, and social media optimisation strategies. 

Gaurav, an engineer and a Harvard alumnus, is a rational thinker and his logical approach is often complimented by Aditi’s creative thinking. During covid lockdown, they created, operated and managed 25+ e-commerce stores for Alshaya Group brands including Boots, The Body Shop, The Beauty Edits, Muji etc.

It took them a few years before they decided to transition from an established services business to launch a consumer-facing scalable venture. As they say, entrepreneurs never settle, they always challenge their perceptions and raise the bar. They both seem to be living up to this and have brought tougher all their expertise and learnings to launch Hamples. 

Globally digital discovery industry is growing rapidly but there is very little innovation done in the space so far. 

In the new post-covid era, we are seeing a surge in NPDs, innovation in the categories and change in consumer habits. Hamples is perfectly placed to bridge the gap in the pre-purchase user journey and reduce wastage, thus putting an end to buyers’ regret.

Our vision is to become a destination for users to discover new launches, try new products, and experience innovation from the conform of their home. Anyone thinking TRY should think Hamples. 

“I have been investing since 2006, and when you have been investing this long you develop muscle memory on identifying great talent (at least you think you do!), when I met Gaurav, I knew from the first 10 minutes this guy is the ultimate “seller” of a startup, he did not know it at the time but he already had us sold,” says Mohammed Alzubi, founder and Managing Partner at Nama Venture. “The team was super versed in the consumer goods space and ways to help brands communicate via sampling to their potential customers. With Hamples, we broke 2 golden rules at Nama, first, we invested in a couple, but this complementary couple was so good, you simply couldn’t say no to, the second rule, we agreed to move forward without them having a technical co-founder at inception,” Mohammed added, “ As the saying goes, be so good that you can’t be ignored. Well, we sure couldn’t ignore Hamples – Happy Samples, our latest great addition to Nama’s awesome clan.”