MENA Startups
Saudi-Based Fintech Startup Yamm Closes Seed Round to Automate Returns and Instant Refunds for E-Commerce Merchants
Co-led by Vision Ventures and Arzan Venture Capital, the round fuels Yamm’s push to turn the post-purchase experience into a faster, data-driven growth lever for online retailers.
Yamm, a Saudi-based platform focused on automating post-purchase operations for e-commerce merchants, has closed a seed funding round co-led by Vision Ventures and Arzan Venture Capital, with participation from 2Pi Ventures, Plus VC, F6 Ventures, and a group of strategic angel investors.
The seed round follows Yamm’s pre-seed raise in October 2024, marking a new phase of scale for the company as it targets one of the most overlooked bottlenecks in regional commerce: returns, refunds, and exchanges.
Founded in late 2023 by Sultan Alsubhi, Mohammed Alshalati, and Hamadah Alkhaldi, Yamm positions itself as an end-to-end returns infrastructure layer, enabling merchants to fully digitize workflows that are still largely managed manually across the region. For customers, that typically means slow, frustrating processes—often including weeks-long waiting periods to receive refunds. Yamm’s pitch is straightforward: compress that post-purchase friction into seconds.
Turning refunds into a conversion moment
Yamm enables customers to initiate returns and receive instant refunds or exchanges within seconds, while giving merchants a control layer that includes analytics, logistics integrations, and flexible settlement tools.
The company says its platform has already processed hundreds of thousands of refunds since launch, delivering triple-digit growth and enabling participating merchants to issue refunds in under 30 seconds. Beyond the operational efficiency, Yamm is framing the post-purchase journey as a measurable driver of business outcomes—improving customer retention, increasing same-day repurchases, and reducing merchant overhead.
This reflects a broader shift in e-commerce strategy. In mature global markets, the post-purchase experience is increasingly treated as part of the growth funnel, not merely support operations. In MENA, however, post-purchase infrastructure has remained fragmented—creating space for platforms like Yamm to build category leadership early.
Built for seamless integration across commerce, logistics, and banking
Yamm’s platform integrates end-to-end with what it calls the local and global commerce stack—connecting merchants with e-commerce platforms, logistics providers, and banking partners. The company says this enables merchants to onboard in minutes without disrupting existing workflows, an important advantage in a market where operational change often comes at the cost of internal complexity.
By centralizing settlement controls and post-purchase workflows, Yamm aims to help merchants transition away from ad-hoc manual processes into a standardized operational layer that scales alongside order volume.
Investor confidence in an underserved category
For Vision Ventures, the deal is a bet on a pain point that persists across the region despite the acceleration of e-commerce. Kais Al Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures, said the firm views post-purchase automation as one of the most underserved opportunities in the market, describing returns and refunds as “the most painful and overlooked part of the eCommerce journey in the region.”
Arzan Venture Capital echoed that view, pointing to both timing and competitive dynamics. Hasan Zainal, Founder and Managing Partner at Arzan Venture Capital, said Yamm combines “sharp execution” with a problem that has become impossible to ignore in Saudi Arabia, adding that the complexity of refunds is growing faster than the available tools—and that credible competition remains limited.
With fresh seed funding secured, Yamm is now positioning itself to define this category in Saudi Arabia and expand across the wider MENA market, as merchants increasingly treat post-purchase operations as a strategic lever rather than a cost center.
MENA Startups
UAE-Based AdTech Startup JustAd Secures $5M Investment to Expand AI-Powered Advertising Platform Into New Markets
Dubai-based JustAd has secured $5 million from angel investor Emad Juma to support its international expansion and develop its AI-powered advertising platform, which combines campaign management, analytics and flexible advertising financing.
JustAd operates a unified advertising platform that enables businesses to plan, launch, monitor and optimize campaigns across major digital networks, including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google Ads. Its technology combines AI-powered campaign analytics, return-on-investment tracking, product catalogue integrations and consolidated reporting, allowing advertisers to manage multiple channels through a single interface.
The company has also developed an advertising financing model called Advertise Now, Pay Later (ANPL), which enables businesses to launch campaigns immediately while spreading advertising payments over installments of up to 12 months. The model is designed to address cash flow challenges faced by small and medium-sized advertisers, allowing them to maintain marketing activities without paying their full advertising budgets upfront.
JustAd Secures $5M to Accelerate International Expansion
The $5 million investment from Emad Juma will support JustAd’s expansion beyond its established markets in the MENA region. The company plans to establish local sales and customer support teams in its target markets while adapting its products to meet different business requirements and strengthening partnerships with major global advertising platforms.
As part of its expansion strategy, JustAd intends to enhance its AI-powered advertising technology and develop additional capabilities tailored to local market needs. The company expects to begin onboarding customers in its new markets in early 2027, although it has not disclosed the specific countries included in its initial expansion plans.
The investment will also support the company’s efforts to position its platform as an integrated solution for businesses seeking to manage advertising operations, monitor campaign performance and access financing through a single digital ecosystem.
AI-Powered Platform Integrates Advertising Management and Analytics
JustAd’s platform brings together campaign planning, execution and performance measurement across multiple advertising networks. By integrating Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google Ads, the company enables advertisers to coordinate their digital marketing activities without switching between separate platforms.
The system uses AI-powered analytics to help businesses evaluate campaign performance, track advertising returns and identify opportunities for optimization. It also includes product catalogue integrations and unified reporting tools, providing advertisers with a consolidated view of campaign results across different channels.
This approach is designed to simplify advertising operations for businesses managing campaigns across several platforms, while helping marketing teams make decisions based on performance data. By combining campaign management and analytics, JustAd aims to reduce operational complexity and improve visibility into advertising expenditure.
Advertise Now, Pay Later Offers Flexible Financing for SMEs
One of JustAd’s core products is its Advertise Now, Pay Later model, which allows businesses to run advertising campaigns immediately and pay their advertising budgets in installments over periods of up to 12 months.
The financing solution targets cash flow challenges that can limit advertising activity among small and medium-sized businesses. Rather than requiring advertisers to cover their entire campaign budgets upfront, the model provides a payment structure intended to help companies maintain campaigns while managing their available working capital.
JustAd delivers the service through approved advertising accounts managed by authorized agencies, alongside direct technical support for customers using major digital advertising platforms. The arrangement combines advertising account management, campaign execution and financing within the company’s broader technology offering.
By integrating ANPL with its advertising management and analytics tools, JustAd is developing a model that connects advertising technology with financial services. The company positions this combination as a specialized FinTech solution for the advertising industry, bringing campaign management, performance measurement and advertising financing into one platform.
JustAd Targets New Markets in Early 2027
Following the investment, JustAd plans to expand its operations by building local commercial and customer support teams, developing market-specific products and strengthening relationships with global advertising networks.
The company expects to start accepting customers in its new markets in early 2027, marking the next stage of its growth strategy beyond MENA. Its expansion will focus on making its integrated advertising platform accessible to businesses seeking centralized campaign management and more flexible advertising payment options.
With $5 million in new funding, JustAd aims to scale its AI-powered marketing infrastructure while extending its Advertise Now, Pay Later offering to additional markets. The investment supports the company’s broader strategy of combining advertising operations, analytics and financing to address the needs of businesses managing digital marketing campaigns.
MENA Startups
Funding Souq Secures Strategic Investment From Foodics to Expand Embedded SME Financing Across Saudi Arabia and UAE
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.
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.
MENA Startups
UAE-Based Ice Cream Brand Mama Booza Launches Mama Pops Fruit Pop Range, Attracting Interest From Over 30 Countries
With real fruit, unexpected flavour combinations and a new squeeze-style format, the homegrown Dubai ice cream brand is bringing a familiar frozen favourite to a wider audience
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.
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
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