United Arab Emirates-based cloud kitchen operator Kitopi has secured $60m in series B funding from investors including CE-Ventures, conglomerate Crescent Enterprises’ corporate venturing unit, MenaBytes reported on Sunday.
The round was co-led by Knollwood and venture capital firm Lumia Capital and included the Kuwaiti state-owned Gulf Investment Corporation, Beco Capital, MSA Capital, Rise Capital, Reshape, Global Ventures and Wilshire Lane Partners.
Founded in 2018, Kitopi operates a network of 30 kitchens across the UAE, UK, United States and Kuwait, partnering virtual restaurants that operate through mobile food delivery platforms such as Just Eat or DoorDash.
The company takes care of location, kitchens, staff and software in addition managing customer feedback for its clients. The funding has been allocated to a growth drive that will involve opening a further 100 locations this year, half of which will be located in the US.
Mohamad Ballout, Kitopi’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “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 favourite dishes.”
CE-Ventures led a seed round for the startup in October 2018 that was sized at about $2m according to MenaBytes, investing alongside Beco Capital. It added $27.2m in its series A round, according to The National, which identified MSA Capital and Global Ventures as existing backers.
