Senior Global Marketing Director

{Funding alert} Amaani bags $5 mn Series A round led by BECO Capital. Amaani, a consumer-focused beauty and wellness company from the Middle East and parent of beauty brand AÏZA, has secured $5 million in a Series A funding round led by BECO Capital, with participation from Homegrown Ventures and Peak XV's Surge. With the latest investment, Amaani's total funding has reached $8 million. The company previously raised $3 million in seed funding from Peak XV's Surge in 2025. The newly raised capital will be directed toward expanding AÏZA's presence across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with Saudi Arabia identified as the brand's immediate growth focus. AÏZA is scheduled to debut in Ulta Beauty stores in Jeddah and Riyadh by the end of September, while market entries into Kuwait and Qatar are planned during the fourth quarter. Founded in Dubai in 2023 by Shubham Poddar, Amaani introduced AÏZA in December 2024 as a beauty brand inspired by regional ingredients and traditions from the Arab world. The portfolio spans skincare and haircare products formulated with ingredients including dates, black seed, frankincense, rose, and bakhoor. The company develops its formulations through laboratory partnerships in Korea, Japan, and Italy, combining regional inspiration with international product development expertise. Among AÏZA's key offerings are the Sukkar Rush lip treatment, Scent Storm hair mist, and Date Setter brow & lash serum. The brand states that all products are vegan, cruelty-free, alcohol-free, and aligned with "Clean at Sephora" standards. According to the company, AÏZA recorded more than nine-fold year-on-year growth in net revenue during the first half of 2026, driven by its transition from an online-first business model to a broader retail presence. The brand currently sells through its own website as well as retail platforms including Ounass and Ulta Beauty in the UAE. Amaani said AÏZA is ranked among the top 10 brands within Ulta Beauty UAE's portfolio, which includes more than 300 international and regional brands. Operating in the premium beauty and wellness segment, AÏZA competes with established regional players such as Huda Beauty, Kayali, and The Giving Movement as it continues to scale its footprint across the Middle East. Stay on top - Get the daily news from Indian Retailer in your inbox

Beauty brand packaging mishap offers a timely reminder for suppliers. Fenty Skin, Huda Beauty and Glow Recipe accidentally launched their products in almost identical packaging. Key Takeaways - Rival beauty brands sparked online buzz after launching eye-care products in nearly identical twist-and-dispense packaging within days of each other. - The dispute became a social media moment, with the brands joking about the packaging mix-up online and turning a potential PR issue into a viral marketing opportunity. - The controversy highlights the importance of suppliers and distributors clearly defining and communicating exclusivity agreements. There's a battle of the brands happening in the beauty and wellness space - and the internet can't look away. Over the past week, marketers across the internet watched closely while competing companies released new eye patch and serum products in almost identical packaging. A dramatic controversy ensued when Fenty Beauty, Glow Recipe and Huda Beauty all teased supposedly exclusive but near-identical packaging for their products: what appeared to be the same cylindrical container featuring a quick-twist dispenser. It all started on Thursday, Sept. 17, when Fenty Beauty released its Dew N Plump Fresh-Sliced Hydrogel Eye Patches in what the brand claimed was a "first-of-its-kind" airtight package that keeps the formulation fresh and cuts patches one by one with a simple twist. The next day, Glow unveiled its own version of the same packaging technology and sent out its samples to influencers to share on social. Within hours, Huda Beauty revealed yet another version of the twist-and-dispense eye patch. "I think it's pretty obvious that we all got screwed over by the same packaging supplier," said Huda Beauty founder Huda Kattan in a comment on TikTok, though she didn't mention the packaging manufacturer by name. "Formulas are different, but we were lied to on the exclusivity with the packaging supplier. Pretty crazy." Earlier this summer, Korean beauty brand Wonder Bath released its own eye serum in a twist-and-dispense container, but the U.S. beauty brands only got wind of it after the fact. It has not been confirmed whether this packaging snafu was a true coincidence - or if, as Kattan alleges, each brand was misled about exclusivity by a single supplier. It is also possible that the brands partnered with a manufacturer but through different distributors. The public may never know what happened, but the controversy is an important reminder for suppliers and distributors to discuss the terms of exclusivity with buyers, especially when working with competing brands. Distributors, too, should clarify the exclusivity terms with their suppliers and communicate transparently with their clients. While the packaging might be the same, all three brands confirmed that the ingredients and formulas in each product are different. Despite the series of unfortunate events, some good content came out of this dispute. Social media teams for each brand got creative quickly when they noticed the mishap, teaching Asicentral an important lesson in (non-life-threatening) crisis communication: When in doubt, laugh it off. Fenty Skin posted a version of a popular Spiderman pointing meme, which featured the four dispensers pointing to one another as if to place the blame onto its competitors. "Touché | ," Glow Recipe commented on the post. Wonder Bath also responded to the witty meme, as did Kattan. Huda Beauty then posted a short video on its own Instagram account featuring personified versions of each brand's container sitting on a couch inside a film studio. The text overlayed on the video read, "me and the girls getting called in for a documentary about a certain manufacturer," referring, of course, to the packaging supplier that allegedly sold the same product to each brand. In this case, perhaps it's true what they say: "Any press is good press." Now, more people across the internet know about each beauty brand's newest products - even if it took a packaging mistake to help them get there.

Eye-Patch Gate: What a viral beauty industry mess reveals about innovation today. The world's top beauty brands - Fenty, Glow and Huda Beauty - released the same twist-to-slice eye patch dispenser product within days of each other, revealing larger questions around supply chains. Last Updated: Sep 24, 2026, 16:28 IST 3 min In a Nutshell RAPID READ A viral "Eye-Patch Gate" revealed Fenty, Glow Recipe, and Huda Beauty simultaneously launched identical eye patch dispensers. This exposed a common packaging supplier as the true "innovator," highlighting how external vendors often drive beauty product development, not the brands themselves. AI-POWERED A simple twist and an elegant, semi-circular piece of jelly slices off. Fenty Skin unveiled its 'first of its kind Dew N Plump Fresh-Sliced Hydrogel Eye Patches' on September 17, and the internet lapped it up. No more messy spatulas, just the right amount of product with a quick sleight of hand. Until a surprise dropped, and then another, within a couple of days. On September 20, beauty creators showcased Glow Recipe's 'Exopeptide Caffeine Brightening and Depuffing Fresh Slices Eye Mask', using the identical twist-and-dispense cylinder. Two days later, Indian content creator Prableen Kaur Bhomrah shared what appeared to be an unreleased product from Huda Beauty: Undereye Jelly Patches. Once again, the product featured the same grinder-style packaging. Suddenly, what had looked like a unique innovation from one brand appeared to be an industry-wide launch, days apart, begging the question: Who copied whom? Based on your activity. The internet quickly deduced that the same product had, in fact, existed for a few months now; Korean beauty brand Wonder Bath had launched a 'Slice Serum' in July. This 'first-of-its-kind' packaging technology didn't lie with any of the brands in question at all - but with a common packaging supplier based in. First Published: Sep 24, 2026, 16:28