UAE-Based ThrowMeNot Raises US$550,000 To Scale Its Food Waste Reduction Efforts Across The MENA

ThrowMeNot, a sustainability-driven online food marketplace based out of the UAE, has raised a US$550,000 pre-seed funding round led by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mana bin Khalifa Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and CEO of AMKM Investments, a UAE-based family office. 

Founded in 2025 by Archie Rudyuk, ThrowMeNot is addressing one of the region’s most pressing sustainability challenges: food waste. In the UAE alone, nearly 40 percent of food produced or purchased is wasted each year, costing the country’s economy an estimated AED6 billion ($1.6 billion). ThrowMeNot is attempting to turn this around by operating a dedicated marketplace that redistributes near-expiry and surplus products, offering discounts of up to 90 percent off retail prices, thereby preventing them from being discarded, while also aligning commercial incentives across the supply chain and making waste reduction profitable for suppliers and convenient for buyers. 

"The core mission is to address and start solving the food waste problem together with the community and businesses, as ThrowMeNot works both with individuals and corporate customers," Rudyuk told Inc. Arabia. "ThrowMeNot offers an opportunity to practice 'smart shopping,' where customers get financial benefits by saving money (surplus or near-expiry products are much cheaper), and, at the same time, take their first sustainability and impact steps." 

The new investment in ThrowMeNot is set to support the growth of its team, expand its delivery and fulfillment capabilities, and enable its expansion across the MENA region. “We raised funding when the business model had already been tested and was showing results," Rudyuk noted. "Over the past months, ThrowMeNot validated that UAE consumers are ready to adopt near-expiry and surplus grocery shopping when it's positioned around value, convenience, and impact, not just discount. We proved repeat purchase behavior, stable average order value, and improved unit economics after optimizing logistics and fulfillment. At the same time, supplier interest accelerated. We strengthened distributor relationships and improved access to surplus inventory, expanding our stock-keeping unit depth, and improving margin control. So, the raise was about scaling a working system." 

With fresh capital in hand, ThrowMeNot is now scaling its platform to include more than 2,700 products from over 25 suppliers, including over 885 widely recognized and trusted brands. Looking further ahead, Rudyuk said the company plans to expand into MENA markets where food waste and overstock challenges are more pronounced, while deepening partnerships with distributors and retailers to build a structured secondary channel for surplus inventory. Meanwhile, from an end user point of view, Rudyuk said that he and his team are aiming to build a loyal customer base that integrates ThrowMeNot into their weekly grocery cycle. 

"Over the next 3–5 years, we see ThrowMeNot moving from an 'alternative grocery option' to an everyday part of consumption behavior,” Rudyuk added. “Our goal is simple: normalize buying surplus and near-expiry products. Today, many consumers still associate near-expiry with compromise. We're reframing it around intelligence, savings, and impact. When customers realize they can reduce waste, save money, and maintain quality, the behavior shifts from occasional to habitual.” 

Pictured in the lead image is Archie Rudyuk, founder and CEO of ThrowMeNot. Courtesy of ThrowMeNot.