In the Middle East’s tech startup scene, Wuilt has emerged as a notable success story for code-free website building and e-commerce enablement. Founded in Egypt in 2019, Wuilt provides a platform that lets individuals and small businesses create professional websites and online stores in minutes without writing a single line of code.
In 2025, Wuilt made headlines by raising new funding to fuel a bold expansion: After making its core platform free in its home market, the company is launching a free version in the UAE by late 2025 and plans to expand across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Turkey in 2026. This strategy – offering a no-cost, Arabic-localised website builder and monetising via add-on services – marks a significant shift in the region’s SaaS and e-commerce landscape.
A Bold Pivot Toward Accessibility
To understand Wuilt’s trajectory, it’s important to note its pivot in April 2025. Wuilt had been a subscription-based Software-as-a-Service, but in April, it eliminated all subscription fees in Egypt, essentially making the core website-building platform completely free for users.
This was a bold move that meant sacrificing substantial recurring revenue (the startup gave up hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual fees) in order to remove cost barriers for small businesses. The immediate result was a surge in adoption, with over 20,000 new merchants joining within a short time after the pivot.
By lowering the entry cost to zero, Wuilt tapped into a huge latent demand among entrepreneurs who previously might have hesitated to go online.
Explaining the decision, Wuilt CEO Ahmed Rostom said, “E-commerce in our region has always been gated by cost, complexity, and outdated thinking. We’ve removed those gates completely.”
This accessibility-first approach aligns with Wuilt’s mission to “make growth possible for everyone else” – empowering thousands of small entrepreneurs to establish a digital presence.
Crucially, Wuilt’s business model did not disappear with the free offering – it transformed. Instead of charging for the basic website builder, Wuilt now monetises through value-added services that help merchants run and grow their online stores.
The company introduced services like Wuilt Shipments, Wuilt Pay, and Wuilt Wallet, which handle logistics, payment processing, and financial needs for merchants. These optional services generate revenue (through transaction fees or premium features) while the core site-building tool remains free.
This shift from subscription fees to a “freemium+services” model is designed to scale with the success of Wuilt’s users – as merchants get more orders and use shipping or payment integrations, Wuilt earns a share.
In other words, Wuilt’s growth is now aligned with the growth of its SMEs. This strategy of removing upfront costs in favour of scalable service fees reflects a broader trend of “democratising” digital tools in emerging markets.
Launching A Free Platform And Raising Funds For Expansion
Wuilt’s pivot set the stage for its next big step: regional expansion. In August 2025, Wuilt announced it had raised USD 2 million in new funding to fuel this growth. The investment round was led by Flat6Labs and MTF VC (both previous backers), with participation from notable players like Hub71 (Abu Dhabi’s tech hub) and JIMCO (the venture arm of Saudi Arabia’s Jameel family).
The infusion of capital comes with strategic value – investors from the UAE and Saudi Arabia will help Wuilt navigate new markets. With this backing, Wuilt outlined a roadmap to launch its free platform in the United Arab Emirates by Q4 2025, followed by rollouts across other GCC countries and Turkey by early 2026.
In practical terms, that means entrepreneurs in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Türkiye will soon have access to Wuilt’s Arabic-enabled, no-code website builder at no cost.
This expansion plan aims to capitalise on booming e-commerce and digitalisation trends in those regions. The GCC’s e-commerce market is rapidly growing – for instance, online retail in the UAE is expected to surpass USD 8 billion by 2025. By establishing a presence in the UAE first (a global commercial hub with high internet penetration), Wuilt can gain traction in a market that values English and Arabic content.
The platform’s appeal is especially high for small businesses that need bilingual websites or lack technical expertise. Wuilt’s offering – “the best Arabic alternative for creating your own website or store in 5 minutes…without complex code” – fills a vital gap, as many global site builders cater poorly to Arabic script or regional needs.
Once the UAE launch is underway, Wuilt’s 2026 push into the rest of the Gulf and Turkey will further enlarge its user base. These markets collectively represent tens of millions of SMEs and solo entrepreneurs, many of whom are coming online for the first time. Wuilt’s team has localised the platform interface in multiple languages (Arabic, English, French, Turkish) to adapt to each country.
Notably, Turkey is part of the plan for 2026 – a sizable market bridging Europe and Asia, where a user-friendly website builder could also find a niche. By early 2026, Wuilt expects to be operating across MENA and Turkey, positioning it as one of the region’s few homegrown tech platforms with a truly pan-regional footprint.
Innovation And Empowerment For Small Businesses
Beyond geographic growth, Wuilt is also innovating its product to provide more value for merchants. The company is developing AI-powered features to assist users in managing and scaling their online business. These AI tools could include smart recommendations for website design, automated inventory management or sales analytics, and personalised marketing aids – all aimed at levelling the playing field for small merchants.
According to reports, Wuilt is focusing on features like AI-driven inventory tracking and customer engagement insights, which help entrepreneurs make data-driven decisions. Such capabilities would normally require expensive software or expertise, but Wuilt plans to bundle them into its easy platform. This resonates with Wuilt’s vision of becoming a “foundational infrastructure layer” for SMEs and social sellers in emerging markets. In other words, Wuilt doesn’t just want to be a site builder – it wants to be the one-stop digital toolkit that powers millions of small businesses online.
Wuilt’s story also highlights how Middle Eastern startups are capturing opportunities in the digital economy. The founders, Ahmed Rostom and Mahmoud Metwaly, identified that while English-based website builders exist, there was a lack of options tailored for Arabic-speaking entrepreneurs.
By offering an Arabic-first, culturally aware platform, Wuilt attracted users in Egypt and is now poised to do the same across the GCC. Its growth also mirrors the broader ecosystem maturing: the fact that an Egyptian SaaS (software as a service) startup can secure GCC venture funding and expand regionally underscores increasing investor confidence.
Indeed, Wuilt’s 2025 funding round saw repeat investments (Flat6Labs had also invested in Wuilt’s seed round) as well as new Gulf investors, reflecting belief in Wuilt’s model. Investors cite Wuilt’s localised strategy and affordability as key strengths in a competitive market of website and store builders.
Image Credits: Wuilt