Arabnet Arabnet

Web solutions provider Hsoub recently acquired Khamasat, a platform that matches service providers and seekers for tasks and services for a standard fee of 5 dollars.

Winner of the 3alam al Tikaniya Award for best web project 2011, Khamasat launched in late 2010 and has since amassed over 3500 users with 2300 services available. Micro tasks are priced at 5 dollars and multipliers. In return, Khamasat collects a fee from service providers for every task performed. Tasks available on the website are quite varied, such as translation, writing, or design. Listing your skills on Khamasat can be done following these simple 4 steps.

“Khamasat was conceived as a mean to provide Arab youth a chance to monetize their skills. The acquisition will allow Khamasat to further pursue its goal and offer its users a chance to carry out e-commerce activities,” explained Khamasat Founder Raouf Shabayak.

Hsoub’s aim, on the other hand, enables Arab youth to profit from the web. “We believe that the acquisition will be mutually beneficial. Hsoub will be gaining Khamasat’s user base and gain access to the Arab freelancers demographic. Khamasat, on the other hand, will benefit from Hsoub’s ads services and its network in general,” commented Hsoub CEO Abdel Mohimen Aalagha.

Hsoub will be using its advertising platform to market Khamasat, in addition to launching several new features to help grow Khamasat, including premium accounts and tasks which would yield more value to both service providers and seekers. Ecommerce is still nascent in the region according to Aalagha, however the market is gradually improving. “While there are currently tens of daily deals and flash sales websites; we are still lacking any successful platforms that empowers youth and enables them to work online,” he explained.

I think that Khamasat has all the ingredients for success, beginning with the novelty of the idea, and now the acquisition. The website does lack in certain areas, especially when it comes to transparency and privacy, notably over certain suspicious services that promise to increase traffic by 2000 visits to your website in under 24 hours, or another that increases your Facebook fans by 5000 within 2 days, or advertizes products or services to 60,000 followers on Twitter, all for a mere 5 dollars.

“There is a lot in store for the future from Hsoub that I cannot disclose right now, but they will be unveiled by the end of the year,” concluded Abedalmohimen in an exclusive interview to ArabNet.

It is worth mentioning that Hsoub had previously launched several free services, including an Arabic Captcha, and Bayan Press.

To know more on Hsoub follow them on Twitter. To find out about the latest offering from Khamasat, click here.