Two-sided marketplaces that seed, earn trust and grow.
Owners and renters, sellers and buyers, suppliers and businesses — we build the listings, bookings, payments and trust that turn a market living in WhatsApp groups into a product.
How this business actually runs.
Marketplaces usually fail the same way: one side stays empty. The technical build is the easier half. The harder half is making the supply side willing to list, and the demand side willing to trust a stranger.
Sealife Connect is Egypt’s first marketplace for boat owners, renters and buyers — a market that lived in WhatsApp groups, phone calls and informal agents. We started with the owners: a listing builder that gets a boat online in under ten minutes, and a verification track that lets them list first and prove more later. Fahem! runs the same two-sided pattern for food suppliers and restaurants.
We plan the first release around getting both sides active, not around the longest feature list.
The systems this business needs.
Listing builders
Guided listing flows with photo prompts and pricing guidance, so the supply side can publish a complete listing in minutes from a phone.
Search, filters & maps
Search that matches how people actually look — by place, date, price and type — with map views where location matters.
Availability & booking
Availability calendars, instant and request-to-book flows, and a single thread per booking.
Payments, commissions & payouts
Taking payment, keeping your commission and paying out the other side — staged to what payment providers support in each country.
Trust & verification
Progressive verification — documents, licences, photos — that unlocks features as users prove more, instead of a wall at sign-up.
Admin & moderation console
Approve listings, handle disputes, manage payouts and see where the market is thin — the tools your operations team lives in.
What’s different in Egypt and the Gulf.
- Many markets in the region start on WhatsApp and Facebook groups — the first release should make moving from there easy, not demand it.
- Split payments and payouts depend on what gateways support in each country; we design the money flow around that from day one.
- Verification uses local documents and licences, with Arabic and English interfaces for both sides.
- Both sides are usually on mobile — web is added where the supply side manages many listings.
Related work we shipped.
What gets asked before signing.
- How do we get the first sellers or providers?
- By making listing effortless and verification progressive, and by designing the first release around the side that’s hardest to recruit. On Sealife Connect that meant starting with owners, before building much for renters.
- Can the platform take a commission on each transaction?
- Yes. How it’s collected — split at payment, or collected and paid out later — depends on the payment provider available in your country; we settle that in discovery before anything is built.
- Should we launch on web or mobile first?
- Usually mobile, because both sides live on their phones — with a web console for your team from day one, and web for the supply side once some of them manage many listings.
- How long does a marketplace take?
- A first release with listings, payments, chat and multiple sellers typically takes about 17 to 24 weeks. Our project estimator gives a range for your scope — pick “Marketplace”.
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