Funding Souq, a Saudi-based Shariah-compliant crowdfunding and SME financing platform regulated by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the Dubai Financial Services Authority  (DFSA), today announced a strategic investment from Foodics, the leading restaurant operations and financial technology platform in MENA, making Foodics the company’s largest investor. The investment will support Funding Souq’s continued growth and expand embedded financing opportunities for SMEs.

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The investment brings together Funding Souq’s regulated financing infrastructure and expertise in SME credit with Foodics’ technology and data capabilities, supporting Funding Souq’s broader growth while creating new opportunities for embedded financing. Within the F&B sector, the collaboration will enable Funding Souq to extend its financing solutions to Foodics’ network of tech-enabled restaurant merchants, using restaurant sales and performance data to support more informed credit assessment and financing better aligned with how these businesses operate.

The investment brings together Funding Souq’s regulated financing infrastructure and SME credit expertise with Foodics’ technology and extensive market reach. Within the restaurant and hospitality sector, Funding Souq will extend its financing solutions to Foodics’ customer network, using restaurant sales and performance data to assess creditworthiness and offer financing better suited to their operating needs.

This also comes as Foodics expands its financial services offering through Capital 2.0, its automated financing solution for restaurants. The company intends to deploy USD 100 million in financing through Capital 2.0 in its first year, with the launch and investment reflecting its broader push to embed access to capital within its restaurant technology ecosystem.

Martin Jaouni, Founder and CEO of Funding Souq, said: “We’re delighted to partner with Foodics. Together we have created Saudi Arabia’s first fully automated business loan, bringing Foodics’ deep reach across the restaurant and hospitality sector together with our regulated financing infrastructure to deliver capital to merchants the moment they need it. It also marks an important acceleration of our embedded finance journey, one we intend to extend across every sector where SMEs are underserved, in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”

Anas AlGhanim, VP, Investments & Corporate Development at Foodics, said: “Funding Souq has built a strong financing platform with significant potential to scale and serve a broader segment of SMEs. We see this investment as an opportunity to support the company’s next phase of growth, while also bringing together Funding Souq’s financing capabilities and Foodics’ technology ecosystem to expand financing services and make access to capital more seamless for our customers.”

The investment also forms part of Foodics’ longer-term ambition to evolve beyond restaurant technology into a broader financial services platform, with the company ultimately aspiring to become the future bank for restaurants and the hospitality sector. 

Funding Souq has built a community of more than 10,000 investors on its platform and is on track to facilitate USD 1 billion in financing for SMEs over the next three years, as it continues to scale its Shariah-compliant financing offering.

About Funding Souq

Funding Souq is a dual-regulated SME financing platform across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The platform operates across two verticals: a Marketplace connecting SMEs with institutional and retail private credit investors, and an Infrastructure vertical, providing a regulated gateway to finance SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Funding Souq offers term loans, invoice and supplier finance,— through Shariah-compliant structures. Since inception, it has delivered market-leading net returns to private credit investors with a low single-digit default rate.

About Foodics

Foodics is the leading restaurant operations and financial technology platform in MENA, offering an integrated cloud-based ecosystem that brings together restaurant operations, payments and financial services. Founded in 2014, Foodics serves businesses across the restaurant and hospitality sector, from traditional dine-in restaurants, cafés, quick-service restaurants, bakeries and food trucks to cloud kitchens and non-food micro-retailers. The company has processed more than 6 billion orders through its platform and raised a record US$170 million in its Series C round, making it one of the leading SaaS companies in the region.

Artisanal ice cream maker Mama Booza is putting a fresh spin on the classic fruit pop with Mama Pops, a new range created with adults in mind, combining real ingredients, refreshing flavour combinations and a convenient squeeze-style format. Available in seven flavours, strawberry, mango, mandarin, lemon mint, black cherry, pomegranate and cocktail, each Mama Pop contains fewer than 100 calories and is made with real fruit, no added sugar or artificial ingredients.

The launch reflects Mama Booza’s continued focus on developing frozen products that combine familiar flavours with a contemporary approach to ingredients and format.

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Drawing inspiration from familiar popsicle formats that have long been part of the region’s frozen treat culture, Mama Pops bring a more contemporary design to a nostalgic format. The squeeze-style packaging gives the classic fruit pop a distinctive new look, while the range of flavours offers a more grown-up take on a format traditionally associated with childhood.

Since its introduction, Mama Pops has generated interest well beyond the UAE, with requests and enquiries coming in from more than 30 countries. The range has also attracted international media attention, reflecting the growing appeal of the format beyond its home market.

“Mama Booza has always been about taking something familiar and looking at it differently,” said Wael El Ariss, Co-Founder and CEO of Mama Booza. “With Mama Pops, we saw an opportunity to reimagine the fruit pop in a way that feels more relevant to adults, without losing what makes the format so enjoyable. We wanted to bring our approach to real ingredients and flavour into a category that has largely remained unchanged, while making the experience less messy and easier to enjoy for everyone.”

Bringing Cultures Together, One Flavour at a Time

Mama Booza’s fruit pops are part of a broader philosophy that has shaped the brand since its launch, taking familiar flavours, desserts and formats from Arab culture and reimagining them through ice cream.

The brand was founded with the idea of modernising Arabic ice cream while making it accessible to everyone, regardless of cultural background. Mama Booza launched with Ashta as its signature flavour, a slow-churned artisanal ice cream made with Levantine clotted cream, orange blossom and roasted pistachios, which helped put the brand on the map.

A year later, Lazy Cake opened the brand to a much wider demographic, bringing a familiar dessert into an ice cream format. Today, it is Mama Booza’s top-selling flavour and has been recognised among UAE’s top 30 most ordered dishes on Deliveroo. Since then, Mama Booza has continued to draw inspiration from desserts and tastes across cultures, turning favourites such as Strawberry Cheesecake and Frosted Cranberry Cookie into ice cream.

The fruit pops extend this same approach into a different format, offering something lighter and more refreshing while maintaining the brand’s focus on real ingredients.

“For us, creating a new flavour is never just about putting ingredients together. We approach it the way you would at home, starting with real ingredients, trying combinations, sharing them with the people around us and seeing what genuinely works,” said Anna Banna, Head of Production at Mama Booza. “That is how we have developed many of our flavours, and it is important to us that what eventually reaches our customers still feels authentic to that original idea.”

From Local Roots to Regional Growth

Mama Booza has also built a reputation for collaborations that take its products beyond traditional food and beverage settings, partnering with brands including Balenciaga, Sephora and MAC across fashion and consumer campaigns.

Today, Mama Booza operates across the UAE with more than 50 locations and multiple delivery and retail channels. Its ice creams and Mama Pops are also available through all delivery platforms across the UAE.

About Mama Booza

Mama Booza is a Dubai-based artisanal ice cream brand built around reimagining familiar flavours and desserts through original frozen creations. Founded with Ashta as its signature flavour, the brand combines Levantine ice cream traditions with carefully selected, premium ingredients and contemporary flavour development. Its portfolio also includes best-sellers such as Lazy Cake, Strawberry Cheesecake and Chocolate Coconut, alongside its range of fruit pops.

Mama Booza’s flavours are developed through an research and development-led approach, including collaboration with a Michelin-starred chef, bringing the detail and craft of fine dining into an accessible ice cream format. Today, Mama Booza operates across the UAE, with more than 50 locations and multiple deliver