KITOPI

Dubai cloud kitchen operator Kitopi plans to spend up to $1b - by investing in F&B brands

Dubai: The Dubai-based cloud kitchen operator Kitopi is cooking up its next growth plans. As part of this, it will be investing in regional F&B groups and widening its regional reach simultaneously. In the next 24 months, Kitopi will invest up to $1 billion in food brands that have synergy with its operating platform. Kitopi now has initial exposures in five major F&B groups - Cloud Restaurants (which owns Go! Greek and Go! Healthy), Leap Nation (operator of Tawook Nation and Luca), Right Bite, Under500, and Ichiban, a sushi delicacies brand. The strategy will “allow brands to leverage Kitopi’s proprietary technology and infrastructure to grow at an accelerated pace while preserving the customer experience”. Kitopi has the funds in plenty to seed its investment strategy. It recently picked up $415 million via a Series C funding. “Over the past three-and-a-half years, we have had the privilege to partner with some of the best international, regional and local brands in the F&B space,” said Kitopi co-founder and CEO Mohamad Ballout. “Working with them has made us see tremendous untapped growth potential. As such, we have decided to invest in such brands as it allows us to help them maximize their potential while supporting the F&B ecosystem with our tech-powered kitchens. The decision to invest in brands has come following our conviction that in a post-pandemic world, operating, growing, and scaling brands have become increasingly complex.”

United Arab Emirates · 18 Nov 2021

Kitopi raises $60 million to close Series B

UAE-based cloud kitchen platform Kitopi, has raised $60 million, closing its Series B round of funding. The round was led by Knollwood and Lumia Capital with further participation from new and existing global investors, namely BECO, CE-Ventures, GIC, Rise Capital, Reshape, Global Ventures and Wilshire Lane Partners. Founded in January 2018, Kitopi partners with restaurants to expand their delivery reach by offering its platform of kitchens, trained chefs and an in-house suite of applications (collectively known as a smart kitchen operating system - “SKOS”) to fulfil the restaurant’s delivery orders. This allows the restaurant to focus on running their dine-in space, marketing and menu development. Kitopi currently operates 30 kitchens across the US, UAE, KSA, UK and Kuwait, and will look to continue its expansion into both new and existing markets with 50 more locations in the US and 100 globally in 2020. Kitopi is currently partnered with more than 100 restaurants including Operation Falafel, Pizza Express and UNDER500. The company now has 1200 employees. “This is an exciting space and we are humbled to work with world class investors who share a unified vision on how we can team up with restaurants to revolutionise the food industry. This investment is a big win for our restaurant partners, as well as the hundreds of thousands of customers who can continue to access their favorite dishes,” said Mohamad Ballout, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Kitopi. Chris Rogers, partner at US-based Lumia Capital said: “Kitopi has demonstrated its ability to differentiate itself from others in an increasingly crowded space, by collaborating closely with restaurants to achieve one common objective. It has shown success in building an innovative product that is capable of constantly adapting itself to suit customer needs while also being scalable. I think if you’re a restaurant looking to scale, or if you’re a brand thinking of opening a new restaurant, this is the best way to succeed (and fast). We’re excited to see how Kitopi continues to reinvent the food tech space.”

United Arab Emirates · 2 Feb 2020

Kit.op.i stands for Kitchen Operation Innovations. We are a state of the art kitchen network that cooks and delivers on behalf of other food brands. We provide the infrastructure and technology that enables food brands to open delivery only locations with minimum capital expenditure and time. We handle all your delivery orders at our network of kitchens so you can focus on running your restaurant, marketing, and product innovation.

4 Sep 2019

UAE food start-up Kitopi attracts interest from Crescent, BECO for seed round

Crescent Enterprises’ venture capital arm said on Saturday it had led a seed funding round to finance UAE food technology start-up Kitopi. The size of the round, which also saw participation form BECO Capital, was not disclosed. Kitopi’s platform allows its kitchens to receive orders and deliver them for restaurants and food brands. This is claimed to reduce order processing and delivery times for small and medium restaurants looking to expand operations. Customers include NKD Pizza, Mantoushe and Tawook Nation. Kitopi co-founder Mohamad Ballout said the company would use the funds to scale its operations. “Kitopi is a new concept, and we have seen widespread adoption by local and international food brands,” he said. “We have ambitious plans of expanding both regionally and globally.” CE Ventures announced last November it would invest $150m in technology start-ups by 2020. The company has invested $46m in start-ups and venture capital funds over the last year including in the Series Around for Indian supply chain start-up Freshtohome.com

United Arab Emirates · 6 Oct 2018