In an incubation lab in Wadi Makkah, a team of academics passionate about innovation aimed to put research and theory to test in the real world when they launched Tawseel, an app making delivery easier and quicker.

The app links to nearby drivers to transport just about anything from groceries, shopping items, and home-to-home deliveries. It has no limit to what can be delivered. The app simply requires users to fill in a blank space to what to be delivered from point A to B using an easy navigation system.

Similar to Uber and Careem car apps, Tawseel transports anything except individuals.

“Many people purchase online and wait for the delivery to arrive after a few days when it’s much easier to receive something from the store right away,” Tawseel’s co-founder Dr. Fawaz Saad said in an interview with Saudi Gazette. “We’re trying to raise more awareness among the public to use this kind of on-demand model.”

Sending items from one place to another or a trip to a store can be a hassle during traffic hours or when transportation is not available. Simply tapping in a grocery list and sending it to a driver has saved time and resources for many.

The app delivers real-time GPS tracker to monitor the drivers and allow users to communicate with them. The cost of delivery depends on the time and distance requested.

Tawseel recruited some 5,000 freelance drivers so far and managed to expand to five cities in the Kingdom after reaching over 40,000 downloads.

“Our goal is to go global and we believe our model of low operational cost and ease-of-use app is very scalable,” he added.

The tech startup recently received a SR1 million fund from Wadi Makkah and is looking to further grow in the region.

“It’s also an opportunity for youth to make some extra money,” added Saad. “We want to offer them a chance to increase their income. Many people work as freelance drivers as their part-time job.”

The average freelance driver gets an 85% percentage of the service, higher than competing apps, making between SR3,000 to SR5,000 per month.

Despite the app gaining rapid growth in the market, moving to a business-to-consumer model has been challenging when inviting commercial shops, pharmacies, and restaurants to integrate in on-demand delivery.

Like many startups in the Kingdom, finding talent is also not easy according to the founders who are keen on growing their technology company and hired half of their staff as developers.

The Makkah-based entrepreneurial venture set foot in the sharing economy market a year ago and aims to not only contribute to the national strategy’s digital economy in Vision 2030 but aim to reach worldwide.