Riyadh – Joi Gifts, the Middle East’s largest online gifts platform, announced today it has raised $2.5 million in Series A venture capital funding from a group of Saudi and UAE investors to fund its international expansion. The round was led by Knuru Capital, a Dubai-based venture capital firm that specializes in the fintech industry and consumer marketplaces, and they were joined by Dubai-based investor MENA Moonshots and Wa’ed, the entrepreneurship arm of Aramco.

Joi Gifts is a product of Enhance Ventures, a leading venture capital studio that builds online marketplaces that fill gaps in markets across the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey. The announcement of the latest funding round comes at a time of rapid expansion for Joi Gifts, which earlier this year entered its eighth country, achieving operating profitability amid a five-fold increase in sales.

Rami Kahale, CEO of Joi Gifts, said the online marketplace would use the funding injection to fuel 

short-term growth through awareness campaigns, customer acquisition, product development and further regional expansion.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the GCC have the highest average spend on gifts globally, according to Enhance Ventures, which values the MENA region’s gifting industry at roughly $28 billion, growing more than 30% each year.

This rapid growth represents a significant opportunity for Joi Gifts, which is the first online gifts platform to employ innovations such as augmented reality and uses formally dressed “concierges” to deliver gifts, and if the sender wishes, sing an appropriate song for each occasion.

“We are thrilled with this investment, which enables Joi Gifts to further enhance and improve what is already the MENA region’s leading online one-stop shop for gifts,” Mr. Kahale said. “We are passionate about providing the best offering for customers in every market we operate in, and this new vote of confidence from our investors gives us the resources to deliver on our quality commitment.”

Victor Sunyer, Partner at Knuru Capital, said: “We have been impressed by the Joi Gifts team’s focus on growth while staying lean. They have managed to build a business with very favorable unit economics and scaled it regionally with just a seed round of funding. This is the hallmark of a strong team, and we are excited to partner with them on this journey.”

Fahad Alidi, the Managing Director of Wa’ed, said: “The gifts industry is extremely well-suited to the Saudi market, and we see significant potential for Joi Gifts in the Kingdom. With the platform’s strong offering and focus on customer experience, we believe the Joi team is well positioned here.”

Mohammad AlHokail, Partner at Enhance Ventures, said, “With Joi’s first independent round of funding, Enhance has successfully spun off Joi and validated the opportunity for venture building under a studio setup in the region. With its highly capital-efficient structure based on sharing and collaboration, venture studios represent a new asset class that can offer higher returns in shorter time frames.”

Mr. Kahale, CEO of Joi Gifts, thanked investors for their endorsement: “We are thrilled to have the team at Knuru lead our Series A investment. Knuru understands online marketplaces, and its experience in helping them scale will be invaluable for Joi’s next stage of growth. We are also very excited about the participation of Wa’ed Ventures and MENA Moonshots, providing a significant strategic advantage in Saudi Arabia and the UAE respectively.”

-Ends- 

About Joi Gifts – Launched in 2016, Joi is the leading online gifting platform in the MENAPT region, available in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. Joi has more than 20,000 gift items live on its curated platform in five categories: flowers, cakes & gourmet, unique gifts, experiences and gift cards. Most gifts are available for same-day delivery, and are delivered with Joi’s premium, concierge-style  service, which is unique to Joi’s platform. Joi Gifts is available online at joigifts.com and on the Apple and Android app stores. Joi was founded by venture studio Enhance Ventures, and funded by angel and institutional investors including Merak Capital, 500 Falcons, 500 Startups, Hala Capital, Khwarizmi Capital, Two Culture Capital and KI Group. For more information, please visit: www.joigifts.com 

About Enhance Ventures -- Founded in 2016, Enhance Ventures is the venture studio for the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, Turkey (MENAPT) region, building online businesses delivering life-enhancing products and services to their customers. Enhance also advises and partners with leading corporations and public sector organizations to support them with their own venture building initiatives. For more information, please visit: www.enhance.online 

About Knuru Capital -- Knuru Capital is a venture investor deploying transformative capital into growth stage technology businesses with a particular interest in the fintech industry, consumer marketplaces and underserved markets. For more information, please visit: www.knuru.com 

About Wa’ed -- Wa’ed is the entrepreneurship arm of Aramco and the largest and most active institutional venture capital investor for Saudi-based start-ups, providing end-to-end support in mentoring, incubation, loan financing, and venture capital investment. Established by Aramco in 2011 to harness the Kingdom’s entrepreneurial spirit, Wa’ed is an essential enabler of new business growth and economic diversification through its loan financing activities and Wa’ed’s VC arm, Wa’ed Ventures, which oversees $200 million in assets and a portfolio of 30+ Saudi-based companies. Based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Wa’ed is a fully owned venture of Saudi Aramco. For more information, please visit: www.waed.net 

For media inquiries, please contact:
Vugar Adigozalov, CMO
vugar@joigifts.com
+971 58 580 6979

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