- Kitopi, a Dubai-based company providing cloud kitchen and delivery services for third-party food merchants, has raised $415 million in Series C funding.
- SoftBank‘s Vision Fund II led the round, with B. Riley, Chimera Investment, Doğuş Group, Next Play Capital, Nordstar, and DisruptAD — the VC arm of UAE state-owned holding company ADQ — among the other participating investors.
- In a statement, the startup said it will “channel the new funding to fuel its continued expansion within the Middle East and support entry to new markets such as Southeast Asia, which has a highly attractive and fast-growing online food delivery market.”
Why it matters:
Models enabling home delivery of meals have generally experienced a boom in business since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as lockdowns and government advisories have kept diners indoors.
It’s the same story for grocery delivery – a segment that Kitopi has recently diversified into, along with subscription-based meal plans.
According to AgFunder‘s global 2021 Agrifoodtech Investment Report, VCs funneled more dollars into the Cloud Retail Infrastructure category — which includes cloud kitchens — last year in an effort to support skyrocketing demand for at-home dining. [Disclosure: AgFunder is AFN‘s parent company.]
Kitopi’s Series C round marks the Vision Fund II’s first investment in a UAE company.
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