Travis Kalanick, the controversial co-founder and former CEO of Uber, is steering his latest venture — CloudKitchens — toward the public markets, and he’s not looking to Wall Street. Instead, Kalanick is reportedly preparing for a Middle East IPO, signalling both confidence in the region’s tech-forward investment landscape and a strong bet on the fast-growing cloud kitchen industry in Saudi Arabia and beyond.
The move reflects a convergence of interests: a booming food delivery market in the Gulf, a push for economic diversification under Vision 2030, and a strategic realignment that places CloudKitchens at the centre of a global shift in how food is made, moved, and monetised.
What is CloudKitchens?
Founded in 2018, CloudKitchens is a food tech and ghost kitchen company owned by City Storage Systems LLC. The company provides delivery-only commercial kitchen infrastructure, allowing food brands and restaurants to launch, scale, or operate entirely without a physical storefront.
Through its software arm Otter, CloudKitchens also offers aggregated order management solutions, helping virtual restaurants consolidate multiple delivery platforms into one streamlined system — essential tech for managing the fast-paced nature of online food ordering and fulfilment.
Big Backers and Bigger Ambitions
CloudKitchens has seen explosive growth backed by billion-dollar fundraising rounds. In 2019, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) invested $400 million into the company — a landmark move that represented one of the kingdom’s most prominent Silicon Valley bets post-2018.
By 2021, the company’s valuation had tripled to $15 billion following an $850 million funding round involving tech giant Microsoft. That trajectory reflects the market’s belief in CloudKitchens’ promise as a backbone provider for the global food delivery infrastructure.
Middle East Focus: Real Estate, Growth, and Public Offering
Saudi Arabia isn’t just an investor — it’s now a strategic growth zone. With PIF capital and access to underutilised real estate, CloudKitchens has been actively expanding across GCC markets, quietly acquiring locations and setting up ghost kitchens in urban and suburban zones. The playbook? Enable local brands to go digital-first, and empower global restaurant chains to enter the region quickly with minimal overhead.
While the exact IPO timeline remains under wraps, a public listing in the Middle East would signal a major shift in global tech IPO trends. It also positions CloudKitchens to tap into regional capital markets and align more closely with Vision 2030’s innovation agenda — especially as Saudi Arabia scales up its ambitions to become a global hub for logistics, technology, and modern food infrastructure.
Challenges on the Horizon
Despite its rapid rise, CloudKitchens has faced internal turbulence. In 2024, the departure of its Chief Financial Officer raised questions about governance and operational alignment. Moreover, the cloud kitchen sector is heating up, with aggressive competition from players like REEF Technology and Kitchen United, both of whom are vying for global dominance in delivery-first food operations.
The Middle East, though ripe with potential, will present its own set of regulatory, cultural, and operational nuances — especially as consumers become more discerning and hyper-local competition intensifies.
Why This Matters
If CloudKitchens does go public in the Middle East, it would mark one of the first high-profile global tech IPOs to debut in the region, a watershed moment for Gulf capital markets. It would also reflect a larger trend: food tech companies no longer see Silicon Valley as the only route to scale.
For Saudi Arabia and the broader region, it’s a strong validation of its cloud kitchen investment strategy, particularly with PIF betting big on kitchen infrastructure as a critical vertical in the digital economy.
CloudKitchens is no longer just a startup — it’s becoming a global player in food delivery logistics. And its decision to list in the Middle East sends a clear message: the future of food is being cooked far from Wall Street.
Image Source, Credit & Rights: CloudKitchens
