Bundle, a UAE-based startup building a blockchain-powered rewards platform, has emerged from stealth with $5.5 million in pre-seed funding, positioning itself to tackle a problem that has grown more expensive for brands across the region: customer acquisition.
Inside the Funding Round
The round was co-led by Ethereal Ventures, founded by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, and Further Ventures. Additional backing came from Nascent, GSR, Scenius Capital, Anchorage Digital, and Nuwa Capital, a lineup that signals strong crypto-native investor interest alongside more traditional venture participation. Bundle was founded by Bader Al Kalooti and Mostafa Wanas and is based in Abu Dhabi.
What Bundle Actually Does
The startup’s core idea is pooling. Rather than each business running its own discount or cashback campaign, brands contribute to a shared reward pool, giving customers a shot at prizes that would normally be out of reach for a small or mid-sized company acting alone. Al Kalooti, Bundle’s CEO, framed the model as a direct response to the limits of discounting, arguing that pooled rewards can motivate customer behaviour more effectively than incremental price cuts, which tend to erode margins without building loyalty.
The platform runs on blockchain infrastructure and stablecoins, which Bundle says allows for transparent, low-cost reward distribution across borders, a feature that matters once the company starts operating in multiple currencies and jurisdictions at once.
Early Traction
Before this raise, Bundle ran pilot programmes across five markets, distributing $100,000 in rewards to more than 1,100 winners, including a single $50,000 grand prize. The company says participating brands saw conversion rates up to four times higher than what they achieved through conventional promotional campaigns. More than 50 founding brands have already signed on ahead of a formal commercial launch.
Where the Money Is Going
Bundle plans to direct the funding toward product development, regulatory coverage, and strategic partnerships. Notably, its first commercial expansion targets are not regional. The company is heading to Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines rather than deeper into the Gulf, a choice that reflects how it sees its addressable market: less about any single geography and more about building a global network of brands willing to share reward budgets.
Why Investors Are Interested
Ethereal Ventures’ Min Teo pointed to Bundle’s combination of shared rewards and blockchain infrastructure as the basis for driving loyalty and growth at scale, while Further Ventures’ Robbie Nakarmi highlighted the access the network gives smaller brands to bigger rewards at a fraction of the usual cost. Both comments point to the same underlying bet: that pooling incentives is a more capital-efficient way to acquire and retain customers than the discounting arms race most SMEs are stuck in.
A Broader Signal for UAE Web3 Startups
Bundle’s raise adds to a run of Web3 and blockchain-infrastructure deals coming out of the UAE this year, reinforcing Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s positioning as regional hubs for crypto-adjacent startups that combine financial infrastructure with consumer-facing products. The involvement of investors like Anchorage Digital and GSR, both known for backing crypto infrastructure rather than pure consumer plays, suggests Bundle is being read as much as a payments and loyalty-infrastructure company as a marketing tool.
Whether the model translates outside its pilot markets will depend on how quickly Bundle can convince enough brands in any given country to contribute to the same pool, since the entire value proposition depends on network size. For now, the startup has the capital and the investor backing to test that thesis at scale.
