&Again by Lebanese Roanne El Alaili among Top 3 in PITCH Startup Competition at Qatar Web Summit

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Founded in 2025, &Again is a forward-thinking fashion tech platform that blends community-driven engagement with a curated marketplace for sustainable style, redefining how fashion is discovered, shared, and traded across the Middle East and beyond. The startup empowers users to give garments a second life, transforming closets into circular economies while fostering meaningful connections between buyers and sellers who care about quality, ethics, and environmental impact. With an intuitive interface and a vibrant social ecosystem, &Again is cultivating a movement toward mindful consumption and a more sustainable future for fashion in the region.

During its soft launch, &Again achieved remarkable traction: 2,000 downloads, over 800 signups, and an inventory exceeding 2,000 pieces, with sales surpassing 186,000 AED in less than three months.

Roanne’s interest in sustainable fashion stems from her childhood joy of exploring her mother’s closet, which evolved into a mission to make second-hand shopping as desirable as buying new. Before launching &Again, she spent 18 years in creative roles across fashion, beauty, luxury, and lifestyle sectors, collaborating with Chalhoub Group, JWT, Huda Beauty Investments, and The Luxury Closet, and founding a successful creative and events agency in Dubai, serving clients such as Piaget, Jimmy Choo, and Disney.

ArabAd met Roanne for an exclusive interview:

Being selected among the top three startups at Web Summit Qatar is a major milestone. What did that recognition validate for you about &Again’s vision?

Being selected in the top three really validated that what we’re building resonates, not just with the judging panel, but with the audience watching, listening, and engaging with us. That part mattered a lot to me. It showed that the problem we’re tackling isn’t niche. It is a real regional priority.

On a personal level, it also validated my journey as a founder. It reinforced my grit and relentlessness, and reminded me why I’ve stayed committed to building &Again through uncertainty and setbacks.

How does being named among the top three startups change the conversation for you with investors, partners, and even users?

It definitely helped create buzz around &Again and gave us visibility on a very credible platform. Being able to articulate our vision loud and clear, literally on a big stage in front of such an engaged crowd, was incredibly powerful.

We’re just opening our first funding round, so this recognition helps keep the momentum going and opens doors to deeper conversations with investors, partners, and users.

Was there a moment during your pitch or the summit itself when you realized this could be a winning story?

Honestly, it almost felt like a non-story at first. In the first round, I thought I had completely tanked. I even had a moment where I lost my words and had to pause to catch my breath.

But instead of letting that defeat me, I took it as a challenge. After making it through round one, I went back, reviewed my entire approach, and reworked my strategy and pitch to make it clearer and more impactful. That pivot paid off. That’s when I felt it: “you’ve got this, now take it all the way with confidence”.

Recognition often comes with pressure. What expectations does this win place on you as a founder and on the company?

I don’t really experience it as pressure. If anything, it gives me a burst of energy and momentum to do more and to build better and faster. I’m the kind of founder who gets recharged by this kind of validation and collective energy.

PITCH as a launchpad for global attention

Ottawa-based Plantaform, an agtech startup building smart, connected indoor gardens that let people grow fresh, organic herbs, greens, and vegetables year-round, took the stage as the winner while Vancouver-based GlüxKind, a robotics startup reimagining the baby stroller with AI-powered safety, also finished as runner-up.

Thousands of startups from Web Summit programs in Doha, Vancouver, Rio, and Lisbon competed for the PITCH prize over the three-day event. Winners gain global media exposure and credibility with investors.

Since Web Summit Qatar 2025, nearly 70 startups from the Pitch Startup Programme have collectively raised $205 million in funding.

Web Summit Qatar 2026 brought together 30,274 attendees, 1,637 startups, 931 investors from 127 countries, 427 speakers, 180 meetups, and 841 international media to Doha.