Lola Raises $3 Million to Scale Cake Customisation Platform Across MENA
Lola, a fast-growing cake ordering and customisation platform, has announced the successful closing of a $3 million seed funding round, led by Vision Ventures with participation from Aljazira Capital, Seedra Ventures, Plus VC, and other investors, signaling strong confidence in its scalable business model.
Lola aims to redefine how celebrations are experienced across the MENA region, transforming a traditionally complex process into a seamless digital journey.
Ordering a customised cake has long been frustrating, involving back-and-forth communication and often leading to results that fall short of expectations. This gap is exactly what Lola set out to solve.
Founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneur Othman Janahi, the platform allows users to visualise, customise, and refine cake designs directly, ensuring the final product matches their imagination with speed and precision.
Starting in Bahrain, Lola quickly expanded into Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait, driven by strong and growing demand.
Funding to Fuel Expansion
Initially relying on local bakeries, Lola scaled rapidly but faced operational limitations.
The newly raised funding will support the development of a central production facility in Dammam, enhancing consistency, control, and scalability.
The company operates a hybrid model combining centralised production with distributed cloud bakeries, enabling efficient expansion while maintaining quality.
Kais Al Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures, commented:
“We all experience pain trying to describe how we want our cake to look for an occasion, only to get something totally different. Lola solves this issue through technology. With a market size of US$ 9.5 billion in 2025 projected to reach over US$ 12 billion by 2030, this is one of the largest in F&B. Othman and his team showed courage and perfect execution by being able to scale Lola to where it is today. We are proud to back such ambitious founders and to help bring such innovative solutions to the masses.”
Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner at Plus VC, added:
“Lola is setting a new benchmark in the market by leveraging technology to streamline a traditionally fragmented industry, delivering a seamless and reliable customer experience that is clearly resonating with users. The platform has already demonstrated strong value creation for customers, reflected in its rapid and enthusiastic demand growth across markets. We believe in Othman and his team’s ability to identify operational bottlenecks and proactively evolve their model, combined with a strategy aligned for long-term scalability, positions them strongly to expand across MENA and capture a meaningful share of the celebrations space.”
Othman Janahi, Founder of Lola, said:
“We’re grateful for the trust our investors have placed in us. What we’re building at Lola goes far beyond cakes, it’s a new way to create and experience celebrations. This funding allows us to scale that vision, strengthen our infrastructure, and maintain full control over the customer experience. With strong demand and a clear roadmap, we’re closing the gap between imagination and reality, making perfection the standard for every celebration.”
Looking Ahead
Lola is evolving beyond cake customisation toward becoming a full celebration platform, including gifting, decoration, and curated experiences.
