Kitopi, Dubai-based cloud kitchen startup has successfully raised a whopping $415 million by SoftBank’s Vision Fund2 in a round of Series C, making the startup’s funding round the region’s largest in the region that’s venture-backed.
Kitopi confirmed to MENAbytes its valuation to be over $1 billion, making it not only the region’s third unicorn, but also the quickest, although the startup opted not to disclose the exact valuation.
The funding round was also joined by other investors that include Chimera, DisruptAD, B. Riley, Dogus Group, Next Play Capital, and Nordstar.
Co-Founder and CEO of Kitopi, Mohamad Ballout, has shared: “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.”
Managing Partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, Faisal Rehman, said, “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 choice 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.”
BECO Capital, Dany Farha, commented: “Mohamad has assembled one of the highest quality leadership teams from the get-go and continues to build depth of talent across the organization. Coupling this with being one of the first in the world to innovate in the cloud kitchen space globally, makes for an incredibly exciting venture outcome to be borne out of Dubai – we are privileged to have the opportunity to work with Kitopi.”
Deputy CEO & Head of Investments, Crescent Enterprises, Tushar Singhvi said: “As a long-standing partner, CE-Ventures continues to support the company’s ambitious global expansion plans. Becoming the region’s fastest unicorn is just the beginning.”
