SoftBank-Backed Unicorn Kitopi Has Appetite for Restaurant Deals - Bloomberg

SoftBank-Backed Unicorn Kitopi Has Appetite for Restaurant Deals - Bloomberg

In a world where virtual kitchens are mushrooming, the Middle East’s market leader in that sector is trying a different recipe. SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Kitopi in recent months has been investing in bricks-and-mortar restaurants, the company’s chief executive said.

The firm, whose name is a portmanteau of Kitchen Utopia, is betting that despite a global surge in ordering food online, about a fifth of fast-food and casual diners will continue to consume food on site, Mohamad Ballout said in an interview.

As a result, the Dubai-based startup has deployed “a few hundred millions of dollars” on nearly a dozen fast-food brands in its core Gulf markets, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, in recent months, said Ballout. “There’s a world we see where consumers still want to go experience something in person.”

The spending spree comes after Kitopi received a big boost to its coffers. Last year it raised $415 million from a group of investors led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 - its first in a business headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and one of the largest funding rounds to date in the Middle East. Among the other investors participating were Abu Dhabi’s Chimera, Turkey’s Dogus Group, and California-based Next Play Capital.