Rozenama raises $150,000 pre-seed from Iraq's Aljasmi Perfumes CEO

Rozenama, an e-commerce company based in Iraq, has closed a $150,000 pre-seed round. The money comes from Mohammed Haider, an Iraqi entrepreneur who leads Aljasmi Perfumes. Rozenama will use it to keep engineering moving and to expand outside Baghdad.

The startup was founded in 2022 by Abbas Muhil and Mohammed Fawzi. It operates from Baghdad. Its product targets merchants who sell through Instagram and WhatsApp. Many of those sellers receive orders as direct messages, handle customer questions one by one, and keep stock records in spreadsheets or notebooks. Rozenama replaces that manual routine with a structured digital system. The platform integrates local delivery companies and supports payment methods that include cash on delivery.

The company's growth has picked up recently. Rozenama reports more than 13,000 registered users and says active merchants have climbed from 250 to more than 900 in the past 12 months. The company adds that most of that expansion has come from governorates outside Baghdad in the last six months. That pattern is now guiding where the money goes.

Rebuild first, then expansion

Most of the pre-seed proceeds are earmarked for engineering. Rozenama is working on a full rebuild of its platform, scheduled to launch on 25 August 2026. The rebuilt product is meant to fix the limitations that merchants currently work around. Once it is out, the startup plans to grow its merchant base across Iraqi provinces rather than focus on the capital.

The timing is deliberate. Social commerce in Iraq runs ahead of the tools behind it. Sellers already have customers on Instagram and WhatsApp, but the orders, inventory updates, and payment checks are scattered across apps and paper. A structured platform gives the same seller a single view of the business. Rozenama's bet is that the next wave of users will come from cities and towns that have felt that pain most acutely.

Local capital, local stakes

The identity of the investor adds meaningful weight. Mohammed Haider is not an outside fund manager. He runs a business that sells physical goods inside Iraq, which means he lives with the same delivery delays and payment friction that Rozenama is trying to fix. His personal capital ties the company's roadmap to someone who understands the market from behind a counter. That is a different kind of accountability for a startup this early.

A $150,000 pre-seed is a modest round. In an emerging market, it may be enough to fund the engineering time for a rebuild but not the full cost of breaking into every province at once. Rozenama will have to prove that the platform works first. If merchants outside Baghdad keep signing up, the company's next round may look very different.