Dubai-born beauty brand deepening Saudi Arabia presence this month following 9x growth in UAE, with Kuwait and Qatar to follow as it builds globally ambitious consumer brands from the Middle East
Dubai, UAE: Amaani, the company behind Middle Eastern beauty brand AÏZA, has raised $5 million in Series A funding as it prepares for its next phase of expansion across the GCC and beyond. The round was led by BECO Capital, with participation from Homegrown Ventures and Peak XV’s Surge, bringing Amaani’s total funding to $8 million.
Founded in Dubai and launched in December 2024, AÏZA is building a beauty brand inspired by the ingredients, rituals and culture of the Arab world, developed to compete with leading global brands. In the first half of 2026, AÏZA’s net revenue increased more than 9x year-on-year as the brand expanded from a digital-first business into regional retail. Today, it is available through aiza.co, Ounass and Ulta Beauty in the UAE, where it ranks among the top 10 brands across more than 300 global and regional brands. AÏZA was also named to BeautyMatter’s NEXT50, becoming the first and only Middle Eastern brand included in its annual global list of 50 emerging beauty and wellness companies to watch.
“Three years ago I left Sequoia Capital India with one conviction: the Middle East had become one of the world’s most sophisticated consumers of global beauty, but too few globally ambitious brands were built around the region’s own beauty culture”, – says Shubham Poddar, Founder and CEO of Amaani. “AÏZA was created to change that, with original products inspired by the ingredients, rituals and cultural intelligence of Arabia, held to the formulation standards required to compete anywhere. This funding allows us to deepen what we have built in the UAE, expand across the GCC and begin proving that a brand born here can travel far beyond it.”
AÏZA’s products reinterpret ingredients associated with the region, including dates, black seed, frankincense, rose and bakhoor, through modern skincare and haircare formulations developed with laboratories in Korea, Japan and Italy. The company combines regional roots with a digital-first operating model designed to help it learn and scale quickly. Its team uses technology and AI across areas including creative testing, customer analytics, performance marketing and operational planning, bringing the speed and discipline of a technology company to the traditionally brand-led beauty category.
Abdulaziz Shikh Al Sagha, Managing Partner, BECO Capital, shared: “We examined the beauty and wellness category in the Gulf and broader Middle East for a number of years, looking for brands built here with the operating discipline to scale beyond the region. Amaani combines that discipline with a deep understanding of what regional consumers want. That combination gave us the conviction to back Shubham and the team at this stage of their journey.”
“In consumer brands, a compelling story may drive the first purchase, but great products and execution are what bring customers back. AÏZA has both. The team is building original products rooted in the region’s ingredients and rituals, while executing with a level of discipline that is rare at this stage”, – said Nader Amiri, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Homegrown Ventures. “Rather than importing an established global playbook into the Middle East, Shubham and the team are building one from here. AÏZA is showing that a brand can be authentically rooted in the Arab world and still have the ambition and product quality to compete globally.”
The new capital will support AÏZA’s expansion across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, alongside continued investment in product development, talent and the technology infrastructure behind the business. Saudi Arabia will be the priority market in the next phase of expansion. AÏZA is set to launch with Ulta Beauty at Red Sea Mall in Jeddah and Riyadh Park in Riyadh at the end of September, with Kuwait and Qatar expected to follow in Q4.
About Amaani and AÏZA
Amaani is a Dubai-headquartered consumer company founded by Shubham Poddar to build the next generation of brands from the Middle East for the region and the world. Before founding Amaani in 2023, Poddar worked at Bain & Company and Sequoia Capital India, where he was involved in the firm’s expansion into the Middle East and investments including Tabby, Huspy, Foodics and Lean Technologies. He was named to the Forbes Middle East 30 Under 30 list in 2025. Amaani’s first brand, AÏZA, is a skincare and haircare brand inspired by the ingredients, rituals and spirit of Arabia. Its products reinterpret regional ingredients including dates, black seed, frankincense, rose and bakhoor through modern beauty formulation, with products developed in laboratories across Korea, Japan and Italy. AÏZA combines culturally relevant ingredients with science-backed actives and formulates to leading global clean beauty standards. Its products are alcohol-free and cruelty-free, with vegan formulas except where honey or milk-derived ingredients are used.
About BECO Capital
Founded in 2012, BECO Capital is a Gulf-focused institutional venture capital firm with over $820 million in assets under management across the entire startup capital stack, encompassing early-stage (pre-seed to Series A) to growth-stage (Series B to pre-IPO) funds.
About Homegrown Ventures
Homegrown Ventures is MENA’s first venture capital firm dedicated to consumer packaged goods. The firm invests at the early stage in emerging brands across food and beverage, beauty and personal care, health and wellness, and home care, in MENA and select international markets. Founded by Ahmad Shamieh and Nader Amiri, whose operating careers span Kraft/Mondelez, Danone, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nokia and Microsoft, Homegrown supports founders with category expertise, retailer and distributor access, and hands-on support across brand and marketing, supply chain, route to market and scale-up. Its portfolio includes AÏZA, PawPots, Plaay, Tarwi Foods, Bambuyu and Gramiyaa.
