Damascus, Syria – Doushesh, a Syrian digital classifieds platform, has successfully closed a pre-seed funding round at the start of 2026, marking a significant milestone for the country’s emerging startup ecosystem.
Founded in 2025 by Alaaeddin Zarzour and Zafer Odabashi, Doushesh operates a comprehensive online classifieds marketplace spanning real estate, vehicles, electronics, furniture, jobs, and services. The platform aims to digitise and organise Syria’s largely fragmented and informal buying and selling landscape.
The newly secured funding will be used to support Doushesh’s expansion across Syria while enhancing trust and safety features on the platform. Key areas of focus include improving listing verification, increasing transaction reliability, and strengthening user retention through higher-quality and more credible advertisements.
In parallel with the investment, Doushesh announced a strategic technical partnership with Adnan Khabbaz, who joins the company as Partner and Technical Advisor. Khabbaz brings regional experience in building and scaling large consumer-facing digital platforms and is expected to play a key role in the company’s next growth phase.
Positioned as a local-first and community-driven marketplace, Doushesh emphasises trust, safety, and sustainable growth over rapid scale. Rather than prioritising surface-level metrics, the platform is designed around local user behaviour and on-the-ground market realities.
Looking ahead to 2026, Doushesh plans to pursue two core priorities: expanding user adoption across Syria’s major provinces in a balanced manner, and strengthening platform retention by introducing stricter controls to combat fake and misleading listings.
By focusing on trust, verification, and local relevance, Doushesh aims to establish itself as the safest and most reliable digital classifieds platform for buying and selling across Syria.
