YAKUB ABDULRASHEED – Dubai-based consumer company Amaani, the parent company of Middle Eastern beauty brand AÏZA, has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round as it accelerates its expansion across the Gulf and positions itself for international growth.
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 by Shubham Poddar in 2023, Amaani launched AÏZA in December 2024 with a strategy centred on translating Middle Eastern beauty traditions and ingredients into modern skincare and haircare products.
The company said AÏZA’s net revenue increased more than ninefold year-on-year in the first half of 2026.
“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,” Poddar said.
AÏZA and the Middle Eastern beauty traditions
AÏZA was created around the idea that Middle Eastern beauty culture can serve as the foundation for globally competitive consumer products.
So, rather than simply importing established international beauty brands into the region, Amaani is developing products inspired by ingredients, rituals and traditions associated with the Arab world.
Its product development draws on ingredients including dates, black seed, frankincense, rose and bakhoor, which are incorporated into contemporary skincare and haircare formulations.
The company works with laboratories in Korea, Japan and Italy to develop its products, combining regional inspiration with international formulation expertise.
This approach is central to Amaani’s broader ambition of creating consumer brands from the Middle East that can compete beyond their home market.
Poddar said the company was founded on the conviction that the region had sophisticated beauty consumers but lacked enough globally ambitious brands built around its own cultural identity.
Strong UAE growth provides foundation for regional expansion
AÏZA’s latest funding comes after significant growth in its home market. According to Amaani, the brand’s net revenue increased more than ninefold year-on-year during the first half of 2026, as it expanded from an initially digital-first business into regional retail.
The company is currently available through its own website, aiza.co, Ounass and Ulta Beauty in the UAE.
Amaani said AÏZA ranks among the top 10 brands at Ulta Beauty in the UAE, where it competes alongside more than 300 global and regional brands.
The brand was also selected for BeautyMatter’s NEXT50, an annual list recognising emerging beauty and wellness companies to watch globally.
These developments provide the commercial backdrop for Amaani’s decision to deploy fresh capital into physical retail expansion and broader regional operations, while continuing to develop its digital and direct-to-consumer capabilities.
Saudi Arabia as Amaani’s immediate expansion priority
Saudi Arabia will be the central focus of AÏZA’s next stage of growth, with the company preparing to establish a physical retail presence in two major Saudi cities.
The brand is scheduled to launch with Ulta Beauty at Red Sea Mall in Jeddah and Riyadh Park in Riyadh at the end of September 2026.
The Saudi expansion represents an important step in Amaani’s attempt to move from being a UAE-based emerging beauty company into a broader Gulf consumer brand.
Saudi Arabia offers a substantially larger market and is one of the region’s most important consumer economies, making its performance there potentially significant to AÏZA’s wider expansion strategy.
Following the Saudi launch, Amaani expects to enter Kuwait and Qatar during the fourth quarter of 2026. The company has indicated that these markets will form part of a broader GCC expansion before it attempts to take its brand further internationally.
Funding to accelerate products, talent and technology
The newly secured $5 million will provide Amaani with additional capital to expand AÏZA while strengthening the infrastructure required to support a larger consumer business.
The company plans to invest the funds in market expansion, product development, talent and technology infrastructure as it moves into additional Gulf markets.
The funding follows a $3 million seed round secured in September 2025 for AÏZA’s debut, which was led by Peak XV’s Surge. With the latest Series A, Amaani’s total external funding has reached $8 million.
BECO Capital led the new round, while Homegrown Ventures and Peak XV’s Surge also participated.
For Amaani, the capital represents more than an opportunity to increase sales; it is intended to help the company build the organisational, technological and product capabilities needed to operate at a larger regional scale while maintaining the brand’s Middle Eastern identity.
AI and technology underpin AÏZA’s growth strategy
Beyond its beauty products, Amaani is positioning technology and data as important components of its operating model.
The company said it uses technology and artificial intelligence across areas including creative testing, customer analytics, performance marketing and operational planning.
This allows the business to analyse consumer behaviour and marketing performance while making decisions about how products and campaigns should be developed and scaled.
Amaani describes this model as bringing “the speed and discipline of a technology company to the traditionally brand-led beauty category.”
The strategy reflects the growing role of data and AI in consumer businesses, where companies can use digital information to understand customers, test marketing approaches and optimise operations.
For AÏZA, the approach is particularly relevant as the company moves from online sales into physical retail and expands across several countries with different consumer markets.
Investors back a Middle Eastern brand with global ambitions
The Series A investment also reflects investor confidence in Amaani’s combination of regional cultural positioning, product development and operational execution.
BECO Capital said it had spent years examining the beauty and wellness category in the Gulf and wider Middle East before identifying companies with the potential to scale beyond the region.
Abdulaziz Shikh Al Sagha, Managing Partner at BECO Capital, said Amaani combines operating discipline with an understanding of regional consumers, describing that combination as central to the firm’s decision to invest.
Homegrown Ventures similarly highlighted the company’s product quality and execution.
Its Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Nader Amiri, said, “Rather than importing an established global playbook into the Middle East, Shubham and the team are building one from here.”
For Poddar, the longer-term objective is to demonstrate that a beauty brand originating in the Arab world can compete internationally.
“AÏZA was created to change that,” he said, referring to the limited number of globally ambitious brands built around the region’s own beauty culture.
With its new funding, expanding retail footprint and technology-driven operating model, Amaani is now entering a more consequential phase in that ambition.
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