SoftBank Leads Funding to Vault Kitopi Past $1 Billion Value - Bloomberg

SoftBank Leads Funding to Vault Kitopi Past $1 Billion Value - Bloomberg

Dubai-based cloud kitchen startup Kitopi has raised $415 million from a group of investors including SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund 2, vaulting it to unicorn status.

Kitopi “has crossed the billion dollar valuation mark now,” Chief Executive Officer Mohamad Ballout said in an interview, declining to give more specifics. “We now have enough capital to really fuel the growth of our business in the Middle East and to expand globally.”

The deal marks one of the largest funding rounds for a Middle East technology company. Other investors that joined SoftBank include Chimera, Turkey’s Dogus Group, California-based Next Play Capital and B Riley, Ballout said.

The funding package will be used to accelerate the firm’s expansion in Saudi Arabia and also to start operations in new countries, he said. Kitopi will make Saudi Arabia its Middle East headquarters while Dubai will remain a global head office as it looks to expand into Southeast Asia, Ballout said.