AÏZA by Amaani

Another power-packed week for MENA innovation! ➡️ Spare secures $5M #Founder: Dalal AlRayes & Saurabh Shah #Country: Saudi Arabia #News: Riyadh-based open banking platform Spare raised $5M in a pre-Series A led by anb Seed Fund, with 500 Global and others joining. Funds will accelerate API integrations and GCC expansion. ➡️ HALA raises $157M #Founder: Esam Alnahdi #Country: Saudi Arabia #News: HALA’s Series B led by TPG’s Rise Fund and Sanabil Investments. Capital to expand embedded financial services and lending products for MSMEs. ➡️ LDUN secures $4.8M #Founders: Feras AlHamdan & Faisal bin Dukhail #Country: Saudi Arabia #News: Seed round led by Sadu Capital to grow factoring and Shariah-compliant financial services for MSMEs. ➡️ Fintologya closes $1M #Country: Bahrain #News: Cloud-native payments infrastructure provider raised $1M seed funding to scale across Gulf markets. ➡️ AÏZA by Amaani raises $3M #Founder: Shubham Poddar #Country: MENA #News: Launches debut Arab beauty brand AÏZA with backing from Peak XV’s Surge, marking their first consumer/seed investment in the region. ➡️ Armoir raises $500K #Founder: Martial Dahan #Country: UAE #News: Luxury luggage brand secured seed funding led by Salica Oryx Fund to expand across MENA and Europe. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dTqF97Sb

Dubai-based beauty company AÏZA by Amaani is betting that Aïza, its first brand, can follow in the footsteps of culturally fueled success stories like Sol de Janeiro, carving out a place for Middle Eastern beauty on the global stage. The early signs are promising. Just three months after launch, the brand has already crossed $2 million in annualized revenue. While the immediate focus is scaling across the Gulf, Aïza already has its eye on the United States and United Kingdom, with major beauty specialty retailers like SEPHORA, Ulta Beauty and Space NK high on its wishlist of retail partners. With $3 million in new funding, Amaani aims to prove that beauty rooted in Arab culture can resonate far beyond the region. Read more: https://bit.ly/3VlNrkU #hereforthefierce #beautyentrepreneur #wellnessentrepreneur #beautybusiness #beautynews

Dubai-based beauty company AÏZA by Amaanii is betting that Aïza, its first brand, can follow in the footsteps of culturally fueled success stories like Sol de Janeiro, carving out a place for Middle Eastern beauty on the global stage. The early signs are promising. Just three months after launch, the brand has already crossed $2 million in annualized revenue. While the immediate focus is scaling across the Gulf, Aïza already has its eye on the United States and United Kingdom, with major beauty specialty retailers like SEPHORA, Ulta Beauty and Space NK high on its wishlist of retail partners. With $3 million in new funding, Amaani aims to prove that beauty rooted in Arab culture can resonate far beyond the region. Read more: https://bit.ly/3VlNrkU #hereforthefierce #beautyentrepreneur #wellnessentrepreneur #beautybusiness #beautynews

Dubai-based beauty and wellness platform Amaani has secured US$3 million in seed funding for its debut beauty brand AÏZA by Amaani in a round led by Singapore-based venture capital (VC) firm Peak XV Partners’s seed platform, Surge. This is Surge’s first consumer and seed investment in the MENA region. Founded by Shubham Poddar in the UAE in 2023, Amaani, which means “wishes and aspirations” in Arabic, is developing beauty and wellness brands inspired by Middle Eastern heritage. Its flagship brand AÏZA, which was launched in May 2025, blends regionally relevant ingredients such as dates, black seed, bakhoor, sidr, frankincense, and saffron with clinically tested ingredients from labs in Italy, Japan, and South Korea. In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Poddar said that his aim with AÏZA is to put Arab beauty on the global stage, a step that he believes is long overdue. “The region is one of the most beauty-centric markets in the world, with beauty accounting for 10-11 percent of retail spend, versus 2-3 percent in the US, UK, or Korea," he said. "This speaks to how deeply beauty is woven into people’s lives here. That intensity of demand, combined with a young, diverse, and opinionated consumer base, makes it a true innovation hub. AÏZA is the first brand to put Arab beauty on the global stage, blending centuries-old rituals and ingredients with world-class innovation." AÏZA first launched online with products including Sukkar Rush, a lip treatment with date and honey, Scent Storm, a bakhoor and rose hair mist, and Date Setter, a brow and lash serum with date seed and castor oil. Within three months, it crossed $2 million in annualized revenue, with strong uptake in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Such wins reinforce Poddar's statement that Arab beauty, which has not received as much attention or investment as Korean (K-beauty) and Japanese beauty (J-beauty), for example, warrants attention not just from the region, but from the world as well. “Unlike K-beauty or J-beauty, which have already travelled the world, Arab beauty has long been missing from the global conversation," Poddar said. "We’re here to change that.” Learn more about Amaani through our full interview with Poddar here: https://lnkd.in/dEuTxpDS #beauty #ArabBeauty #entrepreneurs #startups #investment #Dubai #UAE #GCC #MiddleEast #MENA #venturecapital #business #leaders #women

Out of stealth! I’m deeply grateful for the support from Peak XV Partners Surge (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA), who backed us with a $3M seed investment early on, their first-ever consumer and seed investment in the Middle East. We’ve been heads down - innovating on product, creating a brand that speaks to culture and identity, and building a superstar team. The result is AÏZA — a brand that fuses the richness of Arab heritage and rituals with cutting-edge science, innovation, and global standards. Since our marketing launch in May ’25, we've scaled to $2M+ run-rate revenue, fueled by consumer love and the passion of our team. We've seen the rise of cultural beauty around the world - Sol de Janeiro (Brazilian Beauty), Tatcha (Japanese Beauty), CosRX (Korean Beauty) to name a few. With AÏZA, we’re proud to finally put Arab Beauty on the global map. This is just the beginning, and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead 🚀 Rajan Anandan Ravishankar GV Kaustubh Mundra Suraj Laungani Molly Wagner Umang Mehrotra Dana Osman Sakshi Jain AÏZA by Amaani https://lnkd.in/djr_cvGd

From Dubai to the World — the chocolate that sparked a global craze. The FIX Chocolate Bar has become a global dessert sensation — and a case study in building brands from the Middle East that travel the world. 🍫 Global giants like Lindt have launched their own versions of "Dubai Chocolate" 🥐 It’s been turned into croissants, gelato, and desserts in London, Seoul, and Sydney 👑 Even HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum created his own custom flavour All inspired by a bold little chocolate bar from a Dubai-based startup. But here’s the twist: Chocolate has long been considered a Western dessert. FIX changed that — by infusing it with Arab soul. Pistachio, knafeh, tahini, baklava — all unapologetically regional flavours, reimagined in a format the world already loves. A global product, rooted in local identity. That’s the same product philosophy we’re building at AÏZA — combining Middle Eastern super-ingredients with effective clinical actives in innovative, sensorial formulas. Arab rituals, elevated into modern beauty — and made for every shelf in the world. Even the product naming philosophy echoes: FIX: Names like Can’t Get Knafeh of It, Catch Me If Pecan, Mind Your Own Biscoff — cheeky, modern, rooted in flavour and feeling. AÏZA: Names like Sukkar Rush (a dates-and-honey lip balm), Iced Qahwa (a coffee-saffron eye cream), Cloud Burst (face mist, refreshing as the first rain drops in the desert) Smart, playful names that connect emotionally — while carrying a slice of the region. At Amaani, we believe the Middle East is home to the next wave of culturally rooted, globally loved brands. Not just from Arabia — but made to carry it with them. FIX is already doing it for chocolate. AÏZA is doing it for beauty. More’s coming. Kudos to Sarah Hamouda and the FIX Dessert Chocolatier team for giving everyone around the world a taste of Arabia 🍫 #AIZA #FixChocolate #Amaani #DubaiChocolate #ModernArabia #MiddleEastToTheWorld #ConsumerBrands #BeautyInnovation #ArabFlavours #SensoryMarketing #DTC #BrandBuilding #CulturalCapital

India saw 5,000+ new beauty brands in the last 5 years. ~500 of them raised $1.5B+ in venture capital. The Middle East? Almost zero. In 2023, as a VC at Sequoia India helping lead our Middle East expansion, that blew my mind. Because if there’s one place where people love brands — it’s here. The signs were clear — a new-age brand revolution was coming: What started in the US in the early 2010s, What exploded in India in 2018-20, What surged in Indonesia in 2020–22, — was just beginning in the Middle East. So I took the leap. I founded Amaani — to build new-age consumer brands from the Middle East, for the World. It’s time the Middle East had homegrown brands that aren’t just loved here — but celebrated around the world. We just launched our first brand: AÏZA (aiza.co) — modern beauty, rooted in Arabia. #FounderJourney #ConsumerBrands #MiddleEastStartups #BrandBuilding #DTC #VentureCapital #ArabBeauty #Amaani #AIZA #ModernArabia #Startups #Beauty