Key Takeaways:
- The Dubai-born beauty brand’s investment follows a month of 9x growth.
- This investment brings Amaani’s total funding to $8 million.
- The brand is distributed at Ulta Beauty in the UAE, where it ranks among the top 10 brands.
BeautyMatter 2026 NEXT50 brand AÏZA has landed fresh funding to fuel growth.
WHO: Founded in Dubai and launched in December 2024 by Shubham Poddar, Amaani is a Dubai-based company on a mission to build new-age consumer brands from the Middle East. Its debut brand, AÏZA, blends Arab heritage with global innovation, using regional ingredients like dates, black seed, and bakhoor, combined with clinical actives, and crafted in leading labs in Korea, Japan, and Italy. Amaani plans to scale AÏZA across the region and globally, both online and through retail, while also developing a portfolio of future brands that continue to celebrate and reimagine Modern Arabia for the world. The brand is distributed through Ounass and Ulta Beauty in the UAE, where it ranks among the top 10 brands across more than 300 global and regional brands.
WHY: 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.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: "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...
