Lola Secures $3M to Revolutionise Cake Customisation Across the Gulf

Lola, the Bahrain-born cake ordering and customisation platform, has secured $3 million in seed funding as it looks to scale further across the Gulf. The round was led by Vision Ventures, with participation from Aljazira Capital, Seedra Ventures, Plus VC and several other investors, a strong signal that backers believe there’s serious appetite in the region for tech-enabled celebrations.

At first glance, it’s “just” cake. But anyone who has ever tried to order a custom cake for a birthday or wedding knows the drill. Endless messages with a bakery. Reference photos going back and forth. Trying to explain an idea that only exists in your head… and then hoping the final product actually matches the dream. More often than not, it’s a bit of a faff.

Lola was founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneur Othman Janahi to iron out exactly this problem. The platform allows customers to visualise and customise their cake digitally, tweaking and refining the design before placing an order. In simple terms, what you see is what you get. That clarity, it seems, has struck a chord.

What started in Bahrain quickly expanded to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. Demand grew fast, suggesting that the frustration Lola set out to solve was not confined to one small market, but widespread across the GCC.

The fresh funding will now support a shift in operations. In its early days, Lola relied on local bakeries to handle fulfilment, which helped it grow quickly but also came with limits around consistency and quality control. The company plans to invest in a central production facility in Dammam, blending this with a network of so-called “cloud bakeries” in major cities. The idea is to combine control with flexibility, central oversight while still being able to scale efficiently.

Kais Al Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures, pointed out how common it is for customers to receive cakes that look nothing like what they envisioned. He noted that Lola addresses this through technology, tapping into a sizeable market estimated at $9.5 billion in 2025 and projected to exceed $12 billion by 2030. He also praised the founder’s execution in scaling the business across multiple markets.

Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner at Plus VC, described Lola as setting a new benchmark in a fragmented industry. He highlighted the strong demand across markets and said the team’s ability to identify operational bottlenecks and adjust their model positions them well for long-term growth in the MENA celebrations space.

Janahi, for his part, said the funding will help strengthen infrastructure and maintain tighter control over the customer experience. He framed Lola as going beyond cakes, aiming to reshape how people create and experience celebrations. That broader ambition includes expanding into gifting and decorations, effectively building a one-stop celebration platform.

I’ve seen, over the years at Arageek, how many founders in the region try to digitise what seems like a small, everyday problem, and sometimes that’s exactly where the gold is. Celebrations are deeply rooted in our cultures across MENA. They are emotional, visual, and, let’s be honest, sometimes stressful. If Lola can make that process smoother and more reliable, it might be onto something quite powerful.

On the flip side, execution will be key. Moving into centralised production is not cheap, and operational complexity can spiral quickly. I’m not always a fan of startups expanding too fast, but if the hybrid model works as planned, it could give Lola tighter quality control while still keeping pace with demand.

And believe it or not, cake is serious business. With a multi-billion-dollar market and increasing consumer expectations shaped by social media aesthetics, getting it exactly right is no longer optional. It’s practically expected.

For now, Lola’s team appears chuffed to bits with the vote of confidence from investors. The real test, as always, will be whether it can deliver consistant quality at scale while keeping that seamless digital experience spot on. If it manages that balance, this seed round may turn out to be just the icing on the cake, well… I mean, the first layer of it.

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