Kitopi, a UAE-based cloud kitchen platform with a wider geographical focus, has successfully closed a $415M Series C funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 with participation from Chimera, DisruptAD, B. Riley, Dogus Group, Next Play Capital, and Nordstar.
Kitopi was founded in January 2018 by Mohamad Ballout, Saman Darkan, Bader Ataya, and Andy Arenas, with a mission to satisfy the world’s appetite. Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, Kitopi currently has over 2500 Kitopians (colleagues) in its 4 markets, in addition to Krakow, Poland where its engineering hub is located, and its global CX center in Dubai.
It also operates 60+ cloud kitchens across the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, and more recently, Bahrain
Mohamad Ballout, CEO and Cofounder of Kitopi, commented “These past 3 and a half years have taught us the importance of pursuing our vision with grit, focus, and building a high-performance culture. We are humbled to work with world-class partners such as Softbank, Chimera, DisruptAD, and others. What this shows is not only a great commitment to our company but to the industry and the region. Our focus now is to expand our presence within the Middle East and to Southeast Asia while continuing to innovate and pioneer in the cloud kitchen space. We are excited to take what we do to other parts of the world.”
Faisal Rehman, the Managing Partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, remarked “Constraints placed on the hospitality sector by the global pandemic have rapidly catalyzed the value proposition of cloud kitchens for customers and restaurant brands. We believe Kitopi’s proprietary technology is changing the unit economics of food delivery in providing more choices to more customers, in more places. Moreover, we are delighted to welcome Kitopi as SoftBank’s first UAE-headquartered investment and are excited by the company’s growth prospects in the region and beyond.”
