UAE’s ThrowMeNot Scores $550K to Tackle Food Waste in MENA Expansion

Mohammed Fathy

Last updated 10-02-2026

3 min

ThrowMeNot raised $550,000 pre-seed to strengthen its team, delivery, and logistics operations.

The platform resells surplus and near-expiry goods, offering discounts that can reach 90%.

It targets food waste first, as the UAE discards about 3.

27 million tonnes annually.

Founded in 2025, the startup plans expansion across the UAE and wider MENA region.

Backing from a prominent local investor adds credibility despite execution and logistics challenges.

UAE-based ThrowMeNot has closed a pre-seed funding round worth $550,000, a modest cheque on paper but one that could punch well above its weight in the fight against food waste. The round was led by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mana bin Khalifa Saeed Al Maktoum, with the company saying the fresh capital will go towards building out its team and shoring up delivery and logistics – the unglamorous bits that, frankly, make or break marketplaces like this.

The platform focuses on redistributing surplus goods and products nearing their expiry dates, helping suppliers claw back some value instead of sending perfectly good items to landfill. Consumers, on the flip side, can buy these products at sharply reduced prices, in some cases with discounts reaching 90%. That’s not small change, especially at a time when many households are watching their dirhams a bit more closely.

ThrowMeNot was founded in 2025 by Archie Rodiuk and is currently based in the UAE, but its ambitions stretch further. The company plans to expand across the Emirates and into the wider MENA region, while building what it describes as a broader ecosystem around sustainable products and services. The idea is to nudge behaviour towards more conscious consumption and to tackle waste across several categories, not just food. That said, food waste is clearly the starting point – and a big one.

To put the problem in perspective, estimates suggest the UAE throws away around 3.27 million tonnes of food every year. I’ve heard founders at Arageek community meetups grumble about this stat more than once, usually over coffee that someone inevitably didn’t finish. So, when a startup comes along trying to make a dent here, it feels spot on, even if the road ahead is a bit of a faff.

I reckon the real test will be execution. Logistics at scale are notoriously tricky, and expanding across MENA is rarely smooth sailing. Still, backing from a prominent local investor adds credibility, and the timing feels right. People are more open to discounted, near-expiry goods than they were a few years ago – well, that’s definately the sense I get. Whether ThrowMeNot can turn that openness into a sustainable business is the question, but believe it or not, this is one early-stage bet that’s worth watching.

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