Sawerly announces $200,000 round from QB Co

This piece has been adapted
piece from
Firnas. 

Sawerly, the online marketplace that connects photographers and
clients, have received a $211,000 from QB Co, an angel investor
part of Oqal
Angel Investment network. 

Bridging a
gap

Some professionals, in this case
photographers, find it hard to market their services despite their
talents. Sawerly, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, works
through an integrated innovative platform that links photographers
with clients. Service seekers can receive different offers and
quotations from a wide range of photographers and filter them by
price, quality, and reviews. 

Sawerly’s around 500 photographers
cover events, parties, real estate, special occasions, commercials,
YouTube, and others. To book a photographer, customers can either
go through the web, or the Android and iOS apps, and then enter
their request, specifying the time, place, budget, and event type.
The order is then sent to all photographers specialized in the
relevant field. Every photographer has a profile that features
their work, experience, and reviews from others. Clients make
payments online. 

Founded by Hussein Attar, Mohammed Al Zahrani, and
Bassam Seif, Sawerly was born out of a Startup Weekend Jeddah
competition in 2013. Watch Rayan Adil’s interview with Attar at

ArabNet Riyadh here. 

“Only 10 teams are selected to pitch
their idea in front of a jury for a chance to win a 75,000 SAR
prize,” Attar said. During the event, he voted for Mohammed Al
Zahrani and Bassam Seif who pitched the idea of Sawerly. “They had
an idea related to photography but it wasn’t very clear yet. I
didn’t know them before the event. I just liked their idea and was
the only one who voted for it.” The Startup Weekend selection
committee chose their project, and the three partners worked on
developing it and pitching it in front of the
jury. 

After pitching, they then applied to Flat6Labs under
the management of Qotuf, and despite applying after the deadline
they still managed to get an interview. After their project was
incubated by Flat6Labs, they took part in a one-week workshop, then
graduated along with five other companies.

Hussein Attar, one of Sawerly’s cofounders 

Getting
started

According to Attar, Sawerly has so far received more
than 180 orders and generated more than 150,000 SAR for
photographers. “We have participated in many competitions and
pitched Sawerly to a number of investors,” says the cofounder. With
their newly announced investment, the cofounders are now looking to
hire two Saudi women, as well as attract more talented
photographers from the region. 

When talking about challenges the
team faced at launch, Attar admits that it was hard to market his
idea and attract talent. “Most of [the team] only work with us
part-time to keep their jobs at big companies.” Another challenge
they have faced was finding an investor who would be interested in
funding a technical project. Most investments, according to him, go
to fields such as real estate and contracting. “They don’t see the
benefit of investing in online projects: more return on investment,
lower operating expenses, and high ability to expand.”

Having won several awards, Sawery is
not without its supporters. The startup won second place at ArabNet
Riyadh 2013’s Hackathon, first place at ArabNet Riyadh 2014’s
Startup Demo competition, the ‘Get in the Ring’ competition, and
most recently Attar was listed in Forbes Middle East’s ‘Leaders
Inspiring a Kingdom: Saudi Arabia’s Entrepreneurial Elite’ list, in
the technology field.