Amani raises five million dollars to bring its AI-powered retail model to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf

Amani, a UAE-based company that builds and develops consumer brands, closed a first financing round of $5 million led by Beko Capital, with participation from Homegrown Ventures and the Surge program of BICX, raising the total amount raised to $8 million after a previous round of $3 million closed in September 2025.

The company was founded in 2023 by Shabbam Budar, a former investor in Sequoia Capital India, and launched its first skincare and haircare brand, Aïza, in December 2024. The brand’s concept re-imagines ingredients drawn from the Arab environment and culture, such as dates, black seed, frankincense, rose and incense, formulated into modern compositions through specialised laboratories in Korea, Japan and Italy, to compete with major global brands in regional retail markets.

What stands out in the operating model is the transfer of the discipline and speed of tech companies to the consumer-goods sector, as the firm employs AI tools for testing advertising creativity, analysing customer behaviour, digital marketing and operational planning.This mix translated into a net-revenue growth of more than nine times year-over-year in the first half of 2026, after the company shifted from a direct-to-consumer online model on the Anas platform to distribution in physical stores through Alta Beauty in the UAE, where it ranked among the top ten brands out of over three hundred competitors, and was also listed in the global Beauty Matter rankings of the fifty most promising emerging companies in the sector.

The new funding is earmarked for entry into the Saudi, Kuwaiti and Qatari markets, and for investment in technical infrastructure, talent acquisition and product development. Saudi Arabia is the immediate priority, with products to be launched through Alta Beauty outlets in Red Sea Mall in Jeddah and Riyadh Park in Riyadh by the end of September, followed by expansions in Kuwait and Qatar in the fourth quarter of the same year.

This funding reveals a tangible shift in the trade and retail environment within the Gulf, where relying solely on cultural storytelling and traditional marketing is no longer sufficient to build a local brand. What is changing in practice today for marketing and operations teams in the region's markets is the necessity to build a technology stack that depends on real-time consumerThis funding reveals a tangible shift in the trade and retail environment within the Gulf, where relying solely on cultural storytelling and traditional marketing is no longer sufficient to build a local brand. What is changing in practice today for marketing and operations teams in the region's markets is the necessity to build a technology stack that depends on real-time consumer data analysis and linking rapid advertising content tests to inventory forecasting and supply-chain systems. Companies that have relied on ready-made imports or on old distribution channels now find themselves facing new players who base decisions on data and artificial-intelligence algorithms, which lowers customer acquisition costs and speeds the product cycle from the lab to the shelves of major stores.

The ability of an emerging local brand to capture market share and compete with hundreds of global brands means that the investment evaluation standard in the region now focuses on operational efficiency and the capacity for cross-border scaling. Look at your product-building approach, because the bet today goes beyond the product idea to the technical architecture that drives its growth and regulates its market efficiency.