UAE-Based Udora Raises US$10 Million To Scale Across The Middle East

Dubai-based gifting platform Udora, formerly known as Flowwow, has bagged US$10 million in a private funding round as it prepares to expand across the Middle East and enter the KSA market later this year. 

Founded by Slava Bogdan in the UAE in 2014, Udora operates a marketplace that connects customers with local florists, confectioners, and artisan sellers across more than 50 markets, including the MENA and Latin America (LATAM) regions, as well as the United Kingdom and Spain, while enabling SMEs to fulfill orders directly without investing in their own digital infrastructure. 

The raise comes as Udora undergoes a broader rebrand as part of its effort to scale its marketplace with a stronger focus on localization, marketplace density, and operational efficiency. The funding will be used to expand the platform’s product catalog, deepen localization efforts, and further develop its technology stack, including artificial intelligence (AI)-powered personalization tools aimed at improving user experience and marketplace efficiency. These tools are already being integrated into operations, with the company’s customer support bot resolving 41 percent of queries. 

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Bogdan shared how Udora was conceived as a response to a personal challenge he experienced. “Our story started with a very personal moment," he said. "Back in 2014, I was in Greece trying to send my mother a birthday gift, and what should have been simple turned into a real challenge: delivery, payments, communication with the shop—there was no seamless, trustworthy way to do it. This experience became the starting point to build a fully digital platform that connects people with local florists and gift makers around the world. That idea has since grown into a global gifting platform, now operating in 50+ countries, including MENA and LATAM regions, the UK, Spain, and now entering its next chapter as Udora.”  

Given Udora's base in Dubai, Bogdan revealed that the MENA is a significant growth engine for the enterprise, with it generating around one-third of the company's total gross merchandise value (GMV). "In the UAE, we hold a six percent share of the online gifting market with $3.32 million in GMV in 2025," he said. "We see strong potential to further accelerate this share through deeper localization, stronger supply expansion, and improved marketplace density. But the core mission hasn’t changed. We believe in the importance of a 'warm touch'—turning a simple message into something tangible. Something you can hold, smell, or taste. It’s about transforming a fleeting thought into a real connection."

Having now operated in the region for years, Bogdan noted that customer behavior continues to influence how the Udora platform evolves. “In the GCC, gifting behavior is deeply shaped by a few consistent cultural and behavioral patterns," he said. "First, there is strong seasonality around key cultural celebrations such as Ramadan, Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, and UAE National Day. These occasions carry significant social meaning, and gifting becomes an important way to express appreciation, respect, and connection.” This pattern is reflected in performance trends, with Bogdan saying that sales during Eid Al-Fitr typically rise by around 140 percent compared to a typical day. It has also informed localized initiatives, including a collaboration with Emirati artist Batool Al Tameemi on a UAE National Day collection, as well as a card game created with digital artist Mariam Alobeidli to encourage conversation during Ramadan iftars.

Alongside these large-scale trends, day-to-day purchasing behavior presents a different set of operational considerations, particularly in environments where digital adoption is high and customer expectations continue to evolve. “In highly digitalized markets like the UAE—where smartphone [usage] exceeds 95 percent and over 60 percent of consumers shop via mobile—e-commerce has become deeply embedded in everyday behavior," Bogdan highlighted. "Maintaining a good quality of a product and high standard presentation is the baseline, while speed is critical, with gifting often being spontaneous.” 

Another trend that Bogdan is increasingly seeing, he noted, is more frequent and smaller gestures becoming part of everyday behavior. “Over the past two years, we’ve also seen the rise of the ‘micro-care economy,’ where gifting is no longer limited to major occasions, but extends to smaller, more frequent gestures, such as a midweek bouquet or an unexpected dessert," he explained. "This is especially common among UAE residents and expats, who use gifting as a way to maintain emotional connections across distances. Overall, the region has pushed us to think of gifting not as a transaction, but as a continuous form of communication, with deep respect for traditions and personalization across 25+ categories.” 

The company is now preparing to enter Saudi Arabia in the third quarter (Q3) of 2026 as part of its broader expansion across the GCC. Bogdan said that the Kingdom is being prioritized due to increasing digital adoption and a shift toward online retail in lifestyle and gifting categories, with the market expected to reach $18–19 billion in 2026. 

As it expands into Saudi Arabia, Udora intends to replicate its business model of working with local SMEs to fulfill orders. Bogdan explained that Udora maintains consistency across its local networks of sellers through multiple layers of control, which vary from sending pre-delivery photos to customers to integrating post-delivery ratings into seller visibility, with underperforming merchants deprioritized and supported by the Udora team. “We also invest in merchant enablement, which is particularly important in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where many of our partners are small, often family-run businesses operating at a highly local level," he said. "In the UAE alone, we work with 400 sellers. As demand grows in Saudi Arabia, this becomes both a scaling opportunity and a responsibility to ensure sellers are equipped to meet rising expectations.”  

That operational discipline has also informed Bogdan’s broader thinking on what it takes to scale successfully across markets. Reflecting on Udora’s growth across diverse regions, he pointed to a few lessons that have remained constant throughout the company’s expansion. "First, deep local understanding has to come before scale," he said. "In the GCC, it’s not just about language or localization, it’s about how people enter addresses, which payment methods they trust, what price points feel natural, and which cultural moments actually matter. Relevance here cannot be layered on later, it has to be built in from the start. Second, real market validation matters more than assumptions. When we first tested expansion, I personally spent time in local stores, and even delivered orders myself. That experience made it clear that the model can work internationally, but only when it is adapted to local behavior."

That emphasis on adaptation extends beyond markets to the company’s internal culture as well, Bogdan added. “Culture and people are what make scaling sustainable," he said. "A good example is Vera Modenova, who started her journey with us distributing flyers and later grew into COO at our company. Stories like this are not exceptions; they reflect a long-term approach to developing talent internally. Many of our team members have grown within the company, which creates continuity and alignment in a fast-changing environment. In the GCC and beyond, success comes from balancing speed with cultural precision, building strong systems, but always staying close to the local reality."

Pictured in the lead image is Udora founder Slava Bogdan. Image courtesy Udora.