Homegrown Ventures Closes $22.8M Fund to Boost MENA Consumer Brands

Mohammed Fathy

Last updated 14-04-2026

4 min

Homegrown Ventures closed its debut fund at $22,8m, beating its $20m target.

It targets early-stage “better-for-you” CPG brands across MENA and beyond.

Founders long struggled to pitch niche products to tech or private equity investors.

Backers bring operator experience, offering more than capital and retail know-how.

Rising demand for local, transparent brands signals a regional consumer shift.

Homegrown Ventures has announced the final close of its debut fund, raising more than $22.8 million and beating its original $20 million target. In a region where consumer brands often struggle to find specialised backing, that oversubscription feels more than symbolic. It signals appetite, and maybe a shift.

Positioning itself as MENA’s first venture capital firm built specifically for consumer packaged goods (CPG) and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), the fund is setting out to back early-stage “better-for-you” brands. The focus spans food and beverage, health and wellness, personal and home care, and lifestyle products across the Middle East and North Africa, with an eye also on South Asia and selected international markets.

For decades, the region’s supermarket shelves were dominated by multinational names. Products designed far away, shipped in, and marketed with glossy campaigns that didn’t always feel local. That said, anyone who has spent time with founders here knows there has been a quiet wave building. Young entrepreneurs experimenting with clean-label snacks, ethical beauty, fresh pet food, brands shaped by local tastes and cultural nuance rather than imported playbooks.

I’ve sat with early-stage founders in Dubai and Amman who told me how pitching a hummus-based protein snack or a zero-sugar chocolate bar to generalist investors was, frankly, a bit of a faff. The tech guys didn’t get it, and private equity thought it too small. So a sector-focused fund? For many, that’s spot on.

Homegrown Ventures was founded by Nader Amiri and Ahmad Shamieh, operators who bring a combined three decades of experience from global names such as Mondelez, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Kraft Foods, Nokia, Microsoft and Danone. Both later became founders themselves. Amiri previously co-founded elGrocer, which was acquired by e& in 2021, while Shamieh co-founded HilalFul, a lifestyle brand rooted in contemporary Middle Eastern identity.

“With over 55% of the MENA population under 35, we are witnessing a structural shift that most investors are still sleeping on,” Amiri said. He pointed to a generation that is actively choosing local brands and demanding cleaner ingredients and greater transparency.

Before reaching final close, the firm had already deployed capital into five startups. Among them are PawPots, which produces fresh pet food, and Plaay, a chocolate brand offering indulgent flavours with zero processed sugar. The idea is simple but ambitious: help regional brands build resilient supply chains and compete on their own terms.

Shamieh highlighted that founders are getting more than just capital. “When a founder sits across from us, they’re getting partners who have negotiated with the same retailers, built the same supply chains, and made the same mistakes,” he said, describing it as an unfair advantage passed on to portfolio companies.

On the flip side, building consumer brands is notoriously tough. Margins can be thin, distribution is complex, and customer loyalty is hard-won. I’m not always a fan of grand claims about “inflection points”, but there is something brewing in MENA’s consumer space. Global supply chain disruptions have made local production more attractive, and shoppers are increasingly reading labels, and questioning them.

Fund I will continue targeting early-stage brands across key consumer categories, aiming to professionalise and scale what many founders have so far bootstrapped through grit and perserverance. And believe it or not, that operational know-how may be the real differentiator here.

For readers of Arageek who follow the startup trenches closely, this development feels like a long time coming. A dedicated CPG fund won’t solve every founder’s headache. Well… I mean, nothing does. But it could tilt the playing field a little more in favour of homegrown ambition. And in this region, that’s no small thing.

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