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Saudi’s Food Tech Startup Matbakhi Raises $2.3 Million Pre-Seed Round

The funding will be used to establish a hotel cloud kitchen model to further scale and expand its reach across Saudi Arabia.

Startup Scene

Saudi’s Food Tech Startup Matbakhi Raises $2.3 Million Pre-Seed Round

Matbakhi, a Saudi-based cloud kitchen startup, has raised $2.3 million in a pre-seed round led by Bugshan Investment Company, alongside several strategic angel investors.

Founded in 2020 by Joe Frem and Rodolph Njeim, Matbakhi aims to work closely with hotels, using their underutilized kitchens to enable local chefs to create “soulful” F&B brands.

“With many cloud kitchen models out there, it was super important to identify the model we wanted to adopt to ensure we build a financially sustainable company,” Joe Frem, CEO and Co-founder of Matbakhi, tells StartupScene.“The Hotel Cloud Kitchen Model we adopted is ultra asset-light, which allows us to scale fast and reduce challenges like labor and licensing to launch operations in every location while solving a major problem for the hotels. Our focus on hyperlocal brand creation will help us position Matbakhi as a locally-inspired catalyst of different cuisines”.

By repurposing underutilized kitchen spaces with cloud kitchens, Matbakhi can help improve businesses’ revenue streams. As an F&B hotel supplier, the startup can refresh and upgrade menus and provide customers with high-quality food, ultimately enhancing their overall experience.

To date, the startup has four brands and operates across five locations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. By the end of 2023, it plans to expand across the country and increase its portfolio to include a total of 20 brands.

The funding will be used to establish a hotel cloud kitchen model to further scale and expand its reach across Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is emerging as a leading startup ecosystem in the region. In 2022, it raised close to $ 1 billion, according Magnitt’s latest Emerging Venture Markets Investment report. Although fintech received the lion’s share of funding, F&B is still considered a leading industry in the country, raising $158 million in H1 2022. Some Saudi-based food tech startups that raised significant funding last year include Foodics with $170 million, Haseel with $6.6 million, and Yaa with $2.1 million.