Bahrain-founded foodtech startup Lola has raised $3 million in seed funding to accelerate its expansion across the Gulf, marking a new phase for the company as it moves from marketplace-led growth toward tighter operational control. The round was led by Vision Ventures, with participation from Aljazira Capital, Seedra Ventures, Plus VC and other investors, strengthening its backing from regional venture capital firms. Founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneur Othman Janahi, Lola allows customers to design, personalise and order cakes through a digital platform built around visual customisation.
Funding and Investor Support
The seed round follows Lola’s $1.3 million pre-seed raise in February 2025, when the company secured capital from Plus VC, Vision Ventures and angel investors to support early GCC growth. Its latest financing signals continued investor confidence in a category that sits at the intersection of foodtech, consumer commerce and personalised gifting. Investors have pointed to the scale of the celebrations market, with estimates cited in the announcement placing it at $9.5 billion in 2025 and projecting it to exceed $12 billion by 2030.
Solving a Customisation Gap
Lola’s core proposition is built around a familiar customer pain point: ordering a customised cake often requires lengthy explanations, repeated messages and uncertainty over whether the final product will match the original idea. The platform addresses that gap by letting users see, adjust and refine their cake designs before placing an order, reducing ambiguity between customers and producers. By turning a subjective design process into a structured digital experience, the company aims to make personalised celebration products more predictable and easier to purchase.
Regional Expansion and Operating Model
What started in Bahrain has expanded into Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait, supported by rising demand for faster and more reliable customised celebration products. In its early phase, Lola relied on local bakeries to fulfil orders, a model that helped the company enter new markets quickly but also created challenges around consistency and quality assurance. The new funding will support the development of a central production facility in Dammam, complemented by a network of cloud bakeries designed to improve control while retaining regional reach.
Building a Wider Celebration Platform
Lola is positioning the Dammam facility as a foundation for scalable operations across the GCC, where centralised production can help standardise quality and shorten the gap between design and delivery. The company’s longer-term ambition extends beyond cakes, with plans to broaden its offering into adjacent celebration categories such as gifting, decoration and related occasion services. That strategy could place Lola in a larger consumer segment shaped by social media-driven expectations, growing demand for personalisation and the need for dependable last-mile execution.
The seed round gives Lola fresh capital to pursue a more integrated model at a time when personalised consumer experiences are becoming a stronger part of the region’s digital economy. Its next challenge will be execution, particularly as the company balances centralised production, cloud bakery partnerships and customer expectations across multiple Gulf markets. If Lola can maintain quality while scaling, it could move from a niche cake-ordering service into a broader platform for customised celebrations across MENA.