Bookends

Active

Online marketplace and physical bookstore for buying and selling pre-loved books

Dubai, UAEFounded 2020

E-Commerce

Bootstrapped

Online marketplace and physical bookstore for pre-loved books in the UAE, started by two mothers after placing third at Sheraa's Startup Weekend in November 2019. Launched online in January 2020, it opened a store in Dubai Silicon Oasis in July 2023, stocks over 30,000 books from a community of 1,800 sellers, and rebuilt within six weeks after the April 2024 floods destroyed 14,000 books.

Founders

Somia Anwar

Co-Founder

Grace Chaoul Karim

Co-Founder

Funding Rounds

Grant

$7K

Lead: Sheraa

Investors: Sheraa

Year 2019. AED 25,000 third-place prize at a Sheraa Startup Weekend (digital content/publishing edition), converted at AED 3.6725 = $6,807; used to launch the platform in January 2020. Also: https://mena.entrepreneur.com/entrepreneurs/uae-based-bookends-wants-to-make-it-easy-for-you-to-buy-and/366517 Confidence: confirmed (round 13, The National).

GrantAug 2020

$10K

Lead: Sheraa

Investors: Sheraa, CE-Ventures (Crescent Enterprises)

Investors: Sheraa, CE-Ventures (Crescent Enterprises).

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