Homegrown Ventures has closed its debut Fund I at $22.8 million, exceeding its $20 million target, positioning itself as the first venture capital firm in the MENA region built exclusively around consumer packaged goods and FMCG brands. The fund will invest in early-stage "better-for-you" companies across food and beverage, health and wellness, personal care and lifestyle, deploying across MENA, South Asia and select international markets.
The fund is founded by Nader Amiri and Ahmad Shamieh, who between them have spent more than 30 years inside the CPG industry at Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kraft/Mondelez, Danone, Nokia and Microsoft. Amiri previously founded elGrocer, the UAE online grocery delivery platform that was acquired by Etisalat's e& Group in 2021. Shamieh co-founded HilalFul, a cultural lifestyle brand rooted in contemporary Middle Eastern identity.
Both partners are positioning the fund not as a generalist with a consumer allocation but as a specialist that can offer founders the supply chain relationships, retail buyer introductions and manufacturing know-how that generalist tech VCs cannot.
Homegrown has already deployed into five portfolio companies ahead of the final close, including PawPots (fresh pet food) and Plaay (zero processed sugar chocolate). The fund targets companies with a minimum of $1 to $2 million in annual revenue, according to its OpenVC profile.
The thesis is that MENA's consumer economy has been written by multinationals for decades, with products designed elsewhere and distributed through channels that had little appetite for local innovation, and that a structural generational shift is now underway. Over 55% of the MENA population is under 35, and this cohort is increasingly choosing local brands that offer transparency, better ingredients and cultural relevance over legacy multinational products. Homegrown's argument is that this is the same inflection point regional tech hit 15 years ago, and that it needs dedicated capital and specialist operating support rather than afterthought cheques from tech-focused funds.
The timing coincides with a wave of M&A activity that is demonstrating the exit potential of health and wellness consumer brands built in or through the Gulf.
Bioniq, the personalised supplements company that entered the UAE in 2021 and expanded across the Gulf through partnerships with Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism and Al Borg Diagnostics in Saudi Arabia, agreed to sell its assets to Herbalife for up to $150 million last month ($55 million upfront over five years, plus up to $95 million in performance-based earnouts).
Globally, Unilever acquired Grüns, the US gummy supplements brand valued at $500 million in its 2025 Series B and generating over $300 million in annualised revenue, reinforcing that health-conscious consumer brands built on digital-first distribution and clean ingredient positioning are commanding premium multiples.
The region has already produced its own examples. BMB Group, the Dubai-based healthy snacks and confectionery company founded in 2007 by Bilal Ballout and Mohamad Khachab in a Sharjah warehouse, was acquired by Abu Dhabi's Agthia Group in 2021 after scaling to nearly 1,000 staff, two manufacturing facilities and distribution across 23 countries including Walmart, Sam's Club and Costco in the US.
