Retail Landscape of the United Arab Emirates
1,954 Retail companies in the United Arab Emirates, in one picture: who is hiring, who is raising money, who founded them, where they are based, what the news is about and which skills employers want. Updated August 2026.
Who leads Retail in the United Arab Emirates
The leaderboard lists the 1,954 retail firms in the UAE, highlighting the top hiring companies, the best-funded firms, and the 47 firms currently hiring and 77 that have disclosed a funding round.
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Chalhoub Group5last posted Aug 2026
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Socommerz5last posted Aug 2026
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Majid Al Futtaim5last posted Aug 2026
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Souq Planet4last posted Mar 2026
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Jazp.com3last posted Jul 2026
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The Luxury Closet3last posted Jul 2026
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CHIC LE FRIQUE3last posted May 2026
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Snaxland3last posted Jun 2026
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VINI International$173.7MSeries C · Sep 2017
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eyewa$132.2MSeries C · Nov 2024
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Wadi$97MSeries B · Oct 2018
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Opontia$62MSeries A · Dec 2021
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Tenderd$35.9MSeries A · Jun 2024
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Namshi$33MSeries C · May 2013
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SQUAT WOLF$30MSeries B · May 2023
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Bidfood Middle East27,000tracked employees
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Nesto3,262tracked employees
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BFL GROUP2,750tracked employees
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Spinneys2,000tracked employees
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noon1,442tracked employees
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Huda Beauty504tracked employees
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Dubai Duty Free15.8%30 tracked events
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Union Coop6.3%12 tracked events
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Klasha5.8%11 tracked events
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Yango Tech4.2%8 tracked events
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Dubizzle36articles in the window
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Damas Jewellery25articles in the window
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The Giving Movement20articles in the window
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Fazaa15articles in the window
See all 1,954 Retail companies in the United Arab Emirates
Filter by funding, headcount, hiring and location, and export the list.
How the Retail ecosystem in the United Arab Emirates grew, 2016–2025
This chart shows the number of retail companies founded each year from 2016 to 2025, with the highest count of 226 in 2020 and only 8 founded in 2025.
Where Retail companies in the United Arab Emirates are based
The hub table ranks UAE cities by the number of retail firms, with Dubai hosting 1,345 companies, followed by Abu Dhabi (123) and Sharjah (117).
The Retail market map of the United Arab Emirates: what these companies actually do
The market map breaks down retail firms by product sub‑categories, showing the largest groups in consumer digital (1,062) and B2C e‑commerce (992), and lists the most common revenue models.
The biggest kinds of Retail company, by how many we track.
- Consumer Digital1,062 companies · $482.6M raised · 24 hiring
- B2C E-Commerce992 companies · $497.9M raised · 22 hiring
- Enterprise Tech307 companies · $169.9M raised · 11 hiring
- Internet First Brands273 companies · $59M raised · 4 hiring
- B2C Fashion E-Commerce259 companies · $272.7M raised · 9 hiring
- Marketplaces221 companies · $222M raised · 6 hiring
- Commerce Enablers155 companies · $122.3M raised · 9 hiring
- Enterprise Software154 companies · $60.3M raised · 8 hiring
- Internet First Fashion Brands143 companies · $58.3M raised · 2 hiring
- Beauty E-Commerce137 companies · $35.7M raised · 4 hiring
- Home Improvement E Commerce86 companies · $150k raised · 2 hiring
- Internet First Apparel Brands85 companies · $46M raised · 2 hiring
Monetization
How Retail companies make money
How many companies earn revenue each way. Plenty use more than one model, so the counts add up to more than the sector.
Funding, M&A and the deals moving Retail in the United Arab Emirates
- FundingGerman-based Nesto raised €11 million to scale its AI workforce management platform for restaurant groups.2026-05-04
- M&ATitan Company announced that Titan Holdings International FZCO, UAE (Titan Holdings), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, has completed the acquisition of the Damas Jewellery business in the GCC countries through its subsidiary Signature Jewellery Holding (Signature Jewellery).2026-02-09
- FundingDubai-headquartered online gifts platform, Joi Gifts, has announced its latest funding, a Series A round worth $2.5 million from Saudi and Emirati investors.2026-02-04
- FundingUAE-based eyewear retailer Eyewa raised the nation’s largest funding round in 2024, securing $100 million from American growth equity firm General Atlantic.2026-02-04
- FundingOmooma has raised $2.5 million in funding from E20 Investment LTD.2026-02-04
- FundingKingpin, an AI-native SaaS startup based in Dubai, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding for an AI-powered B2B retail platform.2025-12-04
- IPOAn initial public offering and the sale of some business lines have also been discussed.2025-11-12
- IPODubai's upmarket grocer Spinneys' share price continues to be above its IPO rate of Dh1.53.2025-08-14
- M&AFast forward to 2025, and Kattan has bought back that stake, marking a major milestone in her entrepreneurial journey.2025-06-04
- M&ARXA and Splash (2023) enhanced AI and analytics capabilities, creating a data-driven foundation for customer engagements.2025-05-28
Mergers and acquisitions
Deals from the last 24 months where a Retail company in the United Arab Emirates was the buyer or the one bought, newest first. “Undisclosed” means the price was never published — not that the deal was worth nothing.
| Acquirer | Target | Deal value | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| undisclosed | Announced | 2026-04-07 | ||
| undisclosed | Announced | 2026-02-11 | ||
| Titan Holdings International FZCO | undisclosed | Completed | 2026-02-09 | |
| undisclosed | Completed | 2025-05-28 | ||
| undisclosed | Announced | 2025-04-11 | ||
| Basantne | undisclosed | Announced | 2025-03-29 |
Who is listing, hiring leaders, launching and winning work
This section details specific events such as IPO filings, leadership changes, product launches, and contract wins among the tracked retail companies.
bfoundEcomExpress (eCommerce solution)Dec 2025
Half of these companies grew revenue faster than +6.5%, half slower.
Who is building Retail in the United Arab Emirates
The founders section profiles 506 founders and CEOs across 399 firms, noting frequent alma maters like INSEAD (5) and prior employers such as Google, Amazon, and Bain (each 3).
Ex-Co-Founder Eureka King, Info-Tech Research Group. University of Toronto Mississauga BS 2009, Ivey Business School at Western University MS 2011
Ex-BOUNCE, Cloudways, Gaditek. SZABIST MBA 2011
Ex-Boston Consulting Group. Ecole nationale des ponts et chaussees MS 2013
Ex-Careem, Emirates NBD, McKinsey & Company, GE Capital. IIT Varanasi BTech 1996, IIM Lucknow MBA 1999
Ex-Amazon, Souq.com, Western Union, HP. Technological University Dublin BSc 2008
Wee, ex-Yandex Taxi, ex-Яндекс Маркет
Ex-Aljal Capital. American University - Kogod School of Business 2019
Ex-IMI, Chalhoub Group · University of Montreal BAC 1998
Ex-Google, Publicis. Yarmouk University 2010, Dublin City University PhD 2018
- women141
- men291
Look up the people behind Retail companies in the United Arab Emirates
Search founders, executives and operators by company, role and location.
Who funds Retail in the United Arab Emirates
Since 2016, 152 funding rounds have involved 232 investors, with the typical round size averaging $1.7 million.
| Investor · most active investors since 2016 | Rounds | Led | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 Global | 12 | 8 | Aug 2024 |
| Wamda Capital | 11 | 5 | Feb 2025 |
| Middle East Venture Partners | 7 | 3 | Aug 2024 |
| Techstars | 6 | 5 | May 2024 |
| Jabbar | 6 | — | Jun 2024 |
| Global Founders Capital | 5 | 2 | Dec 2021 |
| BECO Capital | 4 | 3 | Aug 2022 |
| Y Combinator | 4 | 2 | Nov 2021 |
| Arzan Venture Capital | 4 | 2 | Jan 2026 |
| EquiTrust Life Insurance | 4 | 1 | Apr 2019 |
The typical round is $1.7M — half were bigger, half smaller.
The biggest Retail funding rounds in the United Arab Emirates
The largest disclosed round is VINI International’s $155.8 million Series C, and ten other large funding rounds are listed.
| Company | Round | Size | When | Backers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series C | $155.8M | Sep 2017 | WestBridge Capital, Sequoia Capital | |
| Series C | $100M | Nov 2024 | General Atlantic, Badwa Capital, Turmeric Capital | |
| Series A | $67M | Feb 2016 | Al Tayyar Travel Group | |
| Series A | $42M | Dec 2021 | STV, Global Founders Capital, Raed Ventures +2 more | |
| Series B | $30M | Oct 2018 | Majid Al Futtaim | |
| Series B | $30M | May 2023 | ASCA Capital | |
| Series A | $30M | Jun 2024 | A P Moller Holding, Quadri Ventures, Wa'ed Ventures +4 more | |
| Series B | $21M | Jun 2021 | Nuwa Capital, Kingsway Capital, French Partners +4 more | |
| Series B | $20M | Oct 2012 | J P Morgan, blakman.com | |
| Seed | $20M | Jun 2021 | Global Founders Capital, Presight Capital, Raed Ventures +4 more |
38 venture rounds with a disclosed amount in the window.
What the news says about Retail in the United Arab Emirates
A total of 69,507 news articles covered the sector in the last year, focusing mainly on international political relations, security, defense policies, and military technology.
What the coverage is about
The subjects that dominate Retail news in United Arab Emirates. The arrow shows whether each one is being written about more or less than a year ago.
- International political relations11,598▲+174%
- Security and defense policies8,115▲+327%
- International relations and diplomacy5,833▲+175%
- Military technology advancements3,486▲+1221%
- Naval and aerial combat operations3,291▲+598%
- Cryptocurrency impact on forex markets3,157▲+81%
- Trade policies and agreements2,934▲+73%
- New product launches and innovations2,867▲+54%
- Cybersecurity and cyber warfare2,585▲+1121%
- Market research and consumer behavior analysis2,508▲+27%
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26 Retail companies here were named in the news over this period.
Watch Retail coverage in United Arab Emirates as it happens
Prism follows these subjects story by story — which companies are named, what is said about them and how the tone moves.
Momentum
The words getting louder — and quieter
Which terms are showing up in more stories than a year ago, and which are fading. The percentage is the change in how many articles mention them.
The pressures the press keeps returning to
Three recurring angles in United Arab Emirates Retail coverage, and whether each is getting more attention year on year (through 2025).
Retail jobs in the United Arab Emirates: who is hiring and what they ask for
Over the past year, 32 job postings from 27 retail employers were recorded, most often requiring skills in customer service, visual merchandising, stakeholder management, product knowledge, and Microsoft Office.
Demand
The Skills Employers Ask For
What Retail employers in the United Arab Emirates put in their job ads. The bar is how many postings ask for it; the arrow shows whether demand grew or shrank against the year before.
- customer service5▲
- visual merchandising4▲
- stakeholder management4▲
- product knowledge3▲
- microsoft office3▲
- merchandising2▲
- stakeholder communication and coordination2▲
- saas2▲
- report writing and documentation2▲
- vendor and contract management2▲
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Track Retail in the United Arab Emirates beyond this page
Radar finds and filters the companies. Prism watches what is being said about them.
Direct contact details for the people on this page are held in Fliar Radar, behind its own access controls.