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Dubai-based wellness startup Shake Your Plants (SYP) has secured AED 1.2 million in funding following a successful appearance on Shark Tank Dubai, marking a pivotal milestone in the brand’s growth journey.
Founders Lia Coelho and Justine Dampt closed a deal with Amira Sajwani, Managing Director of DAMAC Properties and Founder of Prypco, in exchange for 20% equity. The agreement also includes a AED 2 million line of credit — providing both strategic backing and operational runway.
The founders also received competing offers from Elie Khoury, Chairman of Vivium Holding, and Mona Ataya, founder of Mumzworld, reflecting strong investor confidence in the plant-powered beverage concept.
Dampt described the partnership as more than capital. “Strategic support matters just as much as funding,” she noted, emphasizing the importance of scaling responsibly while maintaining founder control.
Built From Resilience
Shake Your Plants was born during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when Dampt began experimenting with plant-based wellness powders in her kitchen. With a background as a certified nutritionist and health coach, she wanted to create a hydration drink that moved beyond traditional sugary electrolyte formulas.
The result: kombucha-based sachets designed to turn water into a functional wellness drink — supporting gut health and hydration.
But the road was far from smooth.
In 2022, just days before a major launch, the company was forced to recall 80,000 sachets due to a manufacturing-related crystallisation issue. The setback nearly derailed the business.
Instead of retreating, the founders pursued accountability. After months of investigation, the manufacturer accepted responsibility. Dampt even relocated temporarily to Germany to resolve the dispute — a make-or-break chapter that ultimately strengthened the company’s resilience.
Reimagining Hydration
The SYP philosophy is simple: use water as a vehicle for wellness.
The brand focuses on:
- No added sugars
- No artificial colours
- Plant-powered ingredients
- Kombucha fermentation
- Carefully sourced components, including UK-grown organic blueberries
Each sachet is priced below AED 8.50, positioning the product as accessible wellness rather than premium exclusivity.
Globally, hydration and functional beverage demand is rising. According to the World Health Organization, inadequate hydration and poor nutrition remain widespread public health challenges, reinforcing consumer interest in preventative wellness products.
SYP also integrates sustainability into its sourcing approach by prioritising “imperfect” fruits — reducing food waste while lowering its environmental footprint.
Community Led Growth
Rather than relying heavily on celebrity endorsements, Shake Your Plants has embraced micro-influencer marketing and community storytelling.
Transparency around challenges, ingredient sourcing and founder life has helped build authenticity — a key factor in modern brand trust.
The company currently offers three core products focused on hydration and gut health, with new formulas targeting sleep and energy in development.
Expansion plans include entry into Saudi Arabia and the UK, where consumer testing is already underway.
Female Founder Edge
Dampt and Coelho openly discuss the realities of entrepreneurship — particularly as women balancing business and motherhood.
“There’s no such thing as perfect balance,” Dampt has shared, describing the experience as full-time founder meets full-time parent. Rather than seeing it as a disadvantage, the duo views it as a driver of sharper focus and disciplined execution.
Their Shark Tank win signals more than a funding milestone — it reflects a growing appetite in the UAE for wellness-driven consumer brands with strong founder narratives.
Reason for More Water – Sustainability
As temperatures rise during the summer months, staying hydrated becomes increasingly important. The founders of SYP point to research indicating that around 94% of people experience chronic dehydration, while 92% have deficiencies in essential vitamins or minerals. They see this as an opportunity to transform hydration into a healthier and more enjoyable daily habit.
The company currently offers three products centered on hydration and gut health, all formulated with naturally sourced, high-quality ingredients. Its kombucha-based sachets combine premium components such as organic blueberries from the UK and fermented tea sourced from Taiwan.
Free from added sugars and artificial colors, the products are designed to appeal to health-conscious consumers while remaining affordable, with each sachet priced below AED 8.50. According to co-founder Lia, however, the real differentiator is flavor. She believes that regardless of a product’s health benefits, consumers will only make it part of their routine if it tastes genuinely good. While the idea may seem straightforward, delivering both nutrition and great taste is something many brands struggle to achieve.
SYP is steadily building a loyal customer base, supported by collaborations with micro-influencers who promote the products through authentic social media content. Some creators have even volunteered to endorse the brand without compensation, reflecting growing enthusiasm for its offerings. The company is also preparing to launch another product before the end of the year. Humanity has discovered that strangers on the internet can sometimes be more convincing than multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns. Peculiar, but effective.
Co-founder Coelho believes transparency is central to the brand’s long-term success. By openly sharing the realities of building the business, discussing its challenges, and providing complete visibility into the ingredients used in every product, the company aims to foster trust and cultivate a strong, engaged community.
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
Shake Your Plants (SYP) is a Dubai-based wellness startup that produces plant-powered hydration drinks. Its kombucha-based sachets are designed to support hydration and gut health using natural ingredients without added sugars or artificial colours.
Shake Your Plants secured AED 1.2 million in investment after appearing on Shark Tank Dubai. The agreement also included a AED 2 million line of credit, providing additional financial flexibility for the company’s growth plans.
The investment came from Amira Sajwani, Managing Director of DAMAC Properties and Founder of Prypco. She acquired a 20% equity stake in the company while also providing strategic support alongside the funding.
The startup impressed investors with its innovative approach to functional hydration, strong founder story, growing market opportunity, and commitment to natural, plant-based wellness products.
Unlike many sports or electrolyte drinks, Shake Your Plants products contain no added sugars or artificial colours. They use kombucha fermentation and carefully sourced plant-based ingredients to promote both hydration and gut health.
The company uses naturally sourced ingredients, including fermented kombucha tea and organic blueberries grown in the UK. It also prioritizes high-quality plant-based ingredients while avoiding artificial additives.
Each hydration sachet is priced at less than AED 8.50, making the products accessible to consumers seeking affordable daily wellness solutions.
Kombucha-based drinks may help support gut health through fermentation while encouraging better hydration. Combined with plant-based ingredients, they can provide a healthier alternative to sugary beverages, although individual benefits may vary.
Growing awareness of dehydration, nutritional deficiencies, and preventative healthcare has increased demand for functional beverages that offer health benefits beyond simply quenching thirst.
The company reduces food waste by sourcing imperfect fruits that are still nutritionally valuable. This approach helps minimise environmental impact while making better use of agricultural produce.
In 2022, the startup voluntarily recalled around 80,000 sachets after discovering a manufacturing-related crystallisation issue. The founders worked closely with the manufacturer to resolve the problem before continuing the company’s expansion.
Instead of relying primarily on celebrity endorsements, the brand focuses on micro-influencers, authentic customer experiences, and transparent storytelling to build trust and grow its community.
The company currently offers three hydration and gut health products. It is also developing additional formulations focused on improving sleep and supporting natural energy levels.
Following its success in the UAE, Shake Your Plants plans to expand into Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, where product testing and market validation are already underway.
Consumers increasingly trust brands that openly communicate their challenges, sourcing practices, and business journey. Transparency helps build credibility, strengthen customer relationships, and encourage long-term brand loyalty.
The company’s journey demonstrates that resilience, product quality, transparency, and strategic partnerships can be just as important as securing investment. Overcoming setbacks while staying focused on long-term goals can help build a stronger and more sustainable business.
Consumers are increasingly looking for drinks that provide additional health benefits such as hydration, digestive support, improved energy, or better nutrition. This shift has accelerated demand for functional beverages made with natural ingredients.
The startup combined several qualities that investors typically value: a fast-growing wellness market, a differentiated product, resilient founders who had overcome significant challenges, and a scalable business model with international expansion potential.
Dwayne Paschke is a seasoned content strategist and AI automation specialist with over nine years of experience at the intersection of journalism and digital innovation. A versatile force in the media landscape, Dwayne has built a reputation as an expert content writer and investigative journalist, contributing high-impact pieces to various reputable news websites.
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What started as a simple frustration between two friends dining in New York City has evolved into a fast-growing reservation platform projected to hit $1 million in annual recurring revenue this Valentine’s Day.
ResX, founded by Mena Barakat and Sarah Goldring, was born out of a common urban dilemma: securing reservations at fully booked restaurants without paying inflated resale prices or risking cancellation penalties.
According to coverage in Entrepreneur, the idea emerged in 2022 when the founders — both working in finance at the time — realized there was no structured, transparent way for diners to swap reservations responsibly. Instead of relying on bots or expensive third-party services, they envisioned a peer-driven marketplace that restored spontaneity to dining.
From Instagram DMs to a Scalable Platform
The duo initially launched ResX through Instagram, manually managing reservation trades through direct messages. Demand surged quickly, with thousands of users joining within months.
Valentine’s Day became the company’s first major stress test. The founders described it as their “Super Bowl,” handling over a hundred reservation swaps in a single day. The process was entirely manual — tracking deposits, cancellation policies and confirmations through spreadsheets and constant phone monitoring.
Behind the humor of customers messaging “Don’t tell my boyfriend” — referring to backup reservations made in secret — was proof of strong product-market fit. Girlfriends seeking better restaurant options, last-minute planners scrambling to avoid embarrassment, and couples managing duplicate bookings all contributed to a wave of demand.
The experience revealed something larger: consumers were willing to pay for convenience and transparency in high-demand experiences.
Building Infrastructure Around Demand
Recognizing the limitations of manual operations, the founders transitioned ResX into a mobile application funded by early subscription revenue. The platform now verifies reservation details, including prepaid deposits and cancellation fees, before listings go live.
Users can submit unwanted reservations, while others can claim them and assume liability for any associated costs. A premium subscription tier — currently priced at $14.99 per month — offers early access to high-demand listings.
The shift to automation significantly improved operational scalability, particularly during peak moments like Valentine’s Day. As reported by Statista, restaurant reservation demand continues to spike around major holidays, with Valentine’s Day consistently ranking among the busiest dining periods globally.
By early February 2026, ResX had already facilitated dozens of Valentine’s bookings ahead of peak cancellation windows. Hundreds more are expected during the final rush period.
Curated Marketplace for In-Demand Experiences
Unlike generic booking platforms, ResX focuses exclusively on reservations that are otherwise sold out. The result is a curated feed reflecting real-time dining trends in cities like New York and London, its second market.
Interestingly, some users browse the platform simply to see which restaurants are trending, turning the app into a form of cultural discovery engine.
The broader opportunity may extend far beyond dining. ResX has already facilitated swaps for Broadway shows, helicopter tours and ballet performances — tapping into a growing secondary marketplace for premium experiences.
According to data from McKinsey & Company on the experience economy, consumers increasingly prioritize experiential spending over physical goods, particularly in urban centers.
This trend aligns with ResX’s long-term vision: building a structured marketplace for any in-demand, time-sensitive experience.
Lean Team, Big Ambition
Despite its rapid growth, the company operates with a lean team of four. Automation and community-driven growth have allowed it to maintain low overhead while scaling transaction volume.
With projected annual recurring revenue approaching $1 million, Valentine’s Day represents not just a seasonal spike but a symbolic milestone in the company’s trajectory.
The founders continue to emphasize customer feedback as the company’s core development driver. What began as a workaround for dining reservations is now positioning itself as a broader solution to supply-demand inefficiencies in urban lifestyle markets.
If early momentum holds, ResX could become a category-defining player in the emerging reservation resale economy.
Dwayne Paschke is a seasoned content strategist and AI automation specialist with over nine years of experience at the intersection of journalism and digital innovation. A versatile force in the media landscape, Dwayne has built a reputation as an expert content writer and investigative journalist, contributing high-impact pieces to various reputable news websites.
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Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence firm Origen has secured a $50 million deliberate investment from BlueFive Capital, a Gulf-rooted global investment platform that has been quietly and methodically building one of the region’s most forward-looking technology portfolios. The announcement is significant not because of the dollar figure, though $50 million in a single strategic round is not small by any measure, but because of what it signals about where serious capital is flowing, what kind of AI companies are winning institutional confidence, and what the UAE’s technology ambitions are beginning to look like when they move from government vision documents into actual funded operations.
$50 Million That Changes the Conversation
Before breaking down what Origen plans to do with this capital, it is worth understanding what this investment represents beyond the headline number.
Most technology funding rounds in the artificial intelligence space over the past three years have followed a predictable script. A company with a compelling research angle, a handful of impressive pilot projects, and an articulate founder who can explain neural networks at a cocktail party secures funding based on potential. The pitch is almost always the same: the technology is revolutionary, the market is enormous, and the applications are limitless.
Origen is not pitching limitlessness. It is pitching precision.
Founded in 2025 and headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Origen has positioned itself from day one as an implementation-first AI company — a phrase that sounds almost aggressively boring until you understand what it means in practice. It means the company’s primary obsession is not developing AI systems that perform brilliantly in controlled laboratory conditions. It means building systems that perform reliably, consistently, and safely in environments where the question “what happens if this fails?” has answers that range from expensive to genuinely dangerous.
That positioning is exactly why BlueFive Capital’s $50 million investment landed the way it did. This is not speculative funding chasing the next large language model headline. It is calculated capital being placed behind a company that has identified and is actively closing one of the most persistent and least glamorous gaps in the artificial intelligence industry — the gap between what AI can theoretically do and what it reliably does in production environments under real-world conditions.
Where Origen Is Deploying the Capital and Why Each Decision Matters
Origen has been transparent about its capital allocation strategy, and the sectors it has identified as priority deployment areas reveal a great deal about how the company thinks about AI’s immediate commercial and social value.
Government and Public Services
The relationship between artificial intelligence and government operations is one of the most consequential and least efficiently managed intersections in the modern technology landscape. Public service delivery systems in most countries — including some of the world’s wealthiest — operate on infrastructure, workflows, and data management practices that were designed for a pre-digital era and have been patched, updated, and improvised around ever since.
Origen is deploying AI systems specifically designed to address this structural inefficiency. The goal is not to replace human decision-making in government — a conversation that generates far more heat than light — but to automate the processual, repetitive, high-volume administrative functions that currently consume enormous amounts of human time and institutional budget while delivering outcomes that are slow, inconsistent, and frequently frustrating for the citizens on the receiving end.
In practical terms, this means AI-powered document processing systems that handle applications, verifications, and routing in minutes rather than weeks. It means predictive resource allocation tools that help government agencies deploy personnel and services where demand is highest before the demand surge creates a backlog. It means communication systems that handle routine citizen inquiries at scale without sacrificing accuracy or eroding trust.
The potential efficiency gains in this sector are not marginal. They are structural — the kind of improvements that compound over time and fundamentally change what a public service system can deliver per dollar of investment.
Smart Infrastructure and Connected Living Environments
The phrase “smart home” has been so thoroughly colonized by marketing language that it has nearly lost its meaning. Most people’s experience of smart home technology involves a voice assistant that occasionally mishears commands, a thermostat that requires a computer science degree to reprogram, and a security system that sends false alerts at three in the morning.
Origen’s work in this sector is aimed at something considerably more ambitious. The company is developing integrated AI ecosystems for residential and commercial built environments, systems where the various components of a building’s infrastructure communicate with each other, learn from usage patterns, and make real-time optimization decisions across energy consumption, security, access management, environmental comfort, and maintenance scheduling simultaneously.
The differentiating factor in Origen’s approach is integration depth. The challenge with most smart infrastructure deployments is not that individual components fail to work. It is that they work in isolation, creating siloed data environments that cannot be synthesised into genuinely intelligent building management. Origen’s architecture is designed from the ground up for cross-system communication, producing AI-driven infrastructure that behaves like a coherent system rather than a collection of independent devices that happen to share a Wi-Fi network.
Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Operations
Manufacturing environments are, in many respects, the perfect testing ground for production-grade AI. They are data-rich, process-intensive, and highly sensitive to variability. A one percent improvement in production efficiency in a large manufacturing operation can translate to millions of dollars in annual savings. A single undetected equipment fault can trigger a cascade of failures whose cost dwarfs the investment required to prevent it.
Origen’s AI systems for industrial applications focus on three core capabilities: predictive maintenance that identifies equipment degradation before it becomes failure; production optimization that continuously analyzes throughput, quality metrics, and resource consumption to identify efficiency opportunities in real time; and quality assurance systems that catch defects at the point of production rather than at the point of customer delivery.
These are not pilot-project aspirations. They are proven AI application categories where the technology has demonstrated measurable, repeatable ROI in mature industrial deployments globally. Origen’s entry into this space with dedicated capital behind it positions the company to capture a significant share of the Gulf region’s advanced manufacturing AI market as the sector continues its technology adoption acceleration.
How Origen Bridges the Gap Between AI Research and Real Results
Here is something the AI industry rarely admits openly: most AI research never leaves the lab.
Not because the science is flawed. But because building a system that dazzles in a controlled environment and building one that performs under genuine operational pressure are two completely different challenges, and most companies are only equipped for the first.
Origen was built specifically for the second.
Founded in 2025, the company operates as an implementation-first AI firm, meaning its definition of success is not a benchmark score or a polished demo. It is a live system, running in a real environment, delivering measurable outcomes when failure is not an option.
The model is straightforward:
- Take advanced AI concepts and evaluate them for real-world viability
- Adapt them for unpredictable, constraint-heavy operational environments
- Integrate them into existing infrastructure without rebuilding everything from scratch
- Stay accountable for performance long after the system goes live
That last point is where most AI companies quietly disappear. Origen’s entire identity is built around not disappearing.
BlueFive Capital’s Innovative Logic
BlueFive Capital made this investment – this point requires understanding how this firm thinks about capital deployment. Using the capital is considerably more sophisticated than a simple bet on AI as a hot sector.
BlueFive Capital, founded in 2024 and operating from Abu Dhabi, manages a diversified portfolio spanning private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and financial services. Its technology investment thesis is not driven by trend-chasing. It is driven by a disciplined analysis of where technological capability intersects with structural economic need in markets that are actively and financially committed to transformation.
The UAE, and Abu Dhabi specifically, represents one of the most concentrated examples of exactly this intersection anywhere in the world right now. The emirate is not simply expressing an aspiration to become a technology hub through policy language and conference appearances. It is backing that aspiration with regulatory frameworks, institutional infrastructure, and substantial public and private capital in ways that create genuine, durable commercial opportunity for AI companies operating in the region.
By investing in Origen, BlueFive Capital is not merely taking a position in an individual company. It is taking a position in the build-out of a regional AI capability that has clear government alignment, strong institutional support, and a growing pipeline of deployment opportunities across exactly the sectors where Origen is already focused.
That is not a speculative bet. That is a calculated positioning in a market where the conditions for success have been deliberately and systematically constructed.
Why Origen and BlueFive Capital Deal Fits Perfectly for Abu Dhabi’s AI Ecosystem
The Origen-BlueFive deal does not exist in a vacuum. It is one data point in a much larger pattern of deliberate ecosystem construction that Abu Dhabi has been executing with remarkable consistency over the past several years.
The emirate has assembled a combination of advantages that few global cities can match for AI company development. The Abu Dhabi Global Market financial centre provides a world-class regulatory environment for technology businesses. The Masdar City innovation district offers purpose-built infrastructure for technology companies at various stages of growth. Government entities including Mubadala, ADQ, and G42 have demonstrated both the appetite and the institutional capacity to partner with AI companies on large-scale deployment contracts that provide the revenue stability early-stage companies need to execute without distraction.
Origen sits squarely within the strategic priorities that Abu Dhabi has identified as central to its long-term economic diversification. The company’s focus on sectors where AI can deliver measurable operational improvement government, infrastructure, and manufacturing maps precisely onto the emirate’s ambition to build a technology-enabled economy that is genuinely productive and globally competitive, not simply well-branded.
This alignment is not coincidental. It reflects a deliberate strategic choice by Origen’s leadership to build a company whose value proposition is as compelling to institutional partners and government clients as it is to private investors, a dual-market positioning that significantly de-risks the growth trajectory.
What this Investment Signals for the Broader AI Era
Step back from the specifics of this deal and a pattern becomes visible that has significant implications for how artificial intelligence develops commercially in the Middle East and globally.
The first signal is about investor maturity. The era of funding AI companies primarily on the basis of research credentials and theoretical capability is giving way, not everywhere and not uniformly, but meaningfully, to a preference for companies that can demonstrate production-grade systems, real deployment experience, and measurable client outcomes. BlueFive Capital’s investment in Origen is an expression of this maturation.
The second signal is about regional ambition. The Gulf region’s technology investment narrative has evolved substantially from the story of wealthy states importing technology from the West and Asia. The emergence of companies like Origen, built in Abu Dhabi, funded by Gulf capital, targeting Gulf-priority sectors, represents something qualitatively different: the early formation of an indigenous AI industry with the potential to export capability rather than simply import it.
The third signal is about execution. All of the strategic alignment, institutional support, and investment capital in the world produces nothing without companies that can actually build, deploy, and sustain AI systems that perform under pressure. Origen has staked its entire identity on being exactly that kind of company. The $50 million it has just secured is the clearest possible statement that at least one serious, experienced, globally connected investor believes the company can deliver on that identity.
Final Verdict
The Origen-BlueFive Capital investment is a story about one company and one funding round. But it is also a story about a region taking AI seriously in a way that goes beyond rhetoric, a capital market evolving toward rewarding execution over narrative, and an emerging AI ecosystem whose most important chapter is still being written.
Origen has the capital, the strategic positioning, and the institutional alignment to make a significant impact on how artificial intelligence is built and deployed across the Gulf region. The sectors it is targeting are the right ones. The timing is right. The backing is credible.
Everything about how Origen has positioned itself suggests it understands this. BlueFive Capital, by committing $50 million, has made clear that it believes Origen can deliver. The real story of this investment will be told not in the press release but in the deployments, the client outcomes, and the precedents that follow over the next three to five years.
The region is watching. The industry is watching. And the clock, as it always does, has already started.
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
Origen is an Abu Dhabi-based AI company founded in 2025. It builds and deploys production-grade AI systems across government, smart infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing.
BlueFive Capital is a Gulf-rooted global investment platform founded in 2024. It backed Origen because its implementation-first model aligns directly with the UAE’s Vision 2031 economic goals.
The capital goes toward product development, expanding engineering teams, scaling deployments, and strengthening operational infrastructure. Every dollar is directed at execution, not experimentation.
Origen is focused on government and public services, smart infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing, three sectors where AI failure carries a real and measurable cost.
Abu Dhabi has been building an AI-ready ecosystem through ADGM, innovation initiatives, and global tech partnerships. Origen is exactly the kind of homegrown company that strategy was designed to produce.
Most regional AI firms adopt and resell technology built elsewhere. Origen builds original systems designed specifically for Gulf environments, with full accountability for performance after deployment.
Yes. With Microsoft’s $1.5 billion G42 commitment, NVIDIA’s regional infrastructure push, and the world’s first national AI university operating in Abu Dhabi, the UAE has moved from ambition to execution.
It signals genuine market maturation; Gulf capital is shifting from funding AI narratives to backing companies with real deployments, verified outcomes, and sustainable operational models.
Dwayne Paschke is a seasoned content strategist and AI automation specialist with over nine years of experience at the intersection of journalism and digital innovation. A versatile force in the media landscape, Dwayne has built a reputation as an expert content writer and investigative journalist, contributing high-impact pieces to various reputable news websites.
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