Kitopi invests in five major F&B groups as part of latest growth strategy

The regional F&B groups include: Cloud Restaurants (famous for Go! Greek and Go! Healthy), Leap Nation (famous for Tawook Nation and Luca), Right Bite, Under500, and Ichiban, a sushi delicacies chain.

As part of its new growth strategy, the Middle East unicorn start-up is dedicated to growing its network of local, regional and international brands, looking to invest up to $1 billion in the best food brands over the next 24 months, while maintaining its support for its portfolio of invested brands.

“Over the past 3.5 years, we have had the privilege to partner with some of the best international, regional and local brands in the F&B space, and working with them has made us see tremendous untapped growth potential,” said Mohamad Ballout, Kitopi co-founder and CEO.

“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 state-of-the-art tech-powered kitchens.”

The global cloud kitchen market, worth $43.1bn in 2019, is estimated to reach $71.4bn by 2027, according to a report by Allied Market Research.

The GCC region has also followed the trend, with recent reports suggesting that the UAE is emerging as a leading market for online food delivery with an annual market size of over $800m.

In a post-pandemic world, where operating, growing, and scaling brands is becoming increasingly complex, the new brand direction will allow partner brands to leverage Kitopi’s proprietary technology and infrastructure to grow at an accelerated pace, while preserving the customer experience.

“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 state-of-the-art tech-powered kitchens,” added Ballout.

Kitopi currently operates more than 75 cloud kitchens across the UAE, KSA, Kuwait and Bahrain.