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Peekabox, a Dubai-based surplus food marketplace, has closed an oversubscribed $1.5 million angel-backed seed round to launch an app connecting consumers with unsold food from restaurants, cafes, bakeries and grocery stores at discounts of 50 to 70%.
The company's board is chaired by Dr Sameer Al Ansari, former chairman and CEO of Dubai International Capital, with advisors including the CEOs of Meta MEA, Nestlé MENA and Max Fashion, the majority of whom are also investors.
Founded by brothers Hasan Sarwar (CEO) and Omair Sarwar (COO), both former investment bankers in Dubai, Peekabox has signed partnerships with 20 brands whose combined UAE store network exceeds 1,000 locations, including Carrefour, Costa Coffee, Tim Hortons, Dunkin', Krispy Kreme, Paul, Eataly, Cinnabon, Pret a Manger, Armani Cafe and Union Coop, through franchise groups including Majid Al Futtaim, Apparel Group, Azadea, Cravia, Americana and Emirates Leisure Retail.
Of those 20 brands, 16 are live on the app today across 200 active store locations, deliberately staggered to ensure quality rather than scaling ahead of operational readiness, with the remaining locations being activated in phases.
Customers reserve surprise boxes through the app and collect them in-store within a fixed pickup window. The company told FWDstart that every store location sits within an existing high-footfall catchment, from residential communities and shopping malls to DIFC and Business Bay, targeting young professionals on their commute, families looking to reduce grocery spend and mall workers picking up an end-of-day box from a store they're already standing next to.
The model replicates what Too Good To Go has scaled to 19 countries, 120 million registered users and 500 million meals saved in Europe and North America, but in a market where the global leader has only a minimal presence through 11 Lagardère Travel Retail outlets in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE wastes more than AED 6 billion ($1.6 billion) worth of food annually according to Ne'ma, the national food loss and waste initiative, which has set a target to halve food waste by 2030 in line with the UN sustainable development goals.
The funding will go toward GTM in the UAE, including marketing, operations and a lean execution team. Following deeper rollout across Dubai, Peekabox plans to expand across the GCC with Saudi Arabia as the next priority, where the company says the addressable surplus food volume is 4.1 million tonnes across more than 137,000 stores.
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