CloudKitchens, the ghost kitchen startup led by former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, is moving forward with plans for a Middle East IPO, according to reporting from Bloomberg. The company has added JPMorgan, SNB Capital, and First Abu Dhabi Bank to its roster of advisers, joining Goldman Sachs on the deal. A dual listing in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi is under consideration, with timing potentially as soon as next year, though no final decisions have been made.
The Middle East has become central to CloudKitchens’ strategy. Its regional arm is incorporated in Abu Dhabi, while Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund invested $400 million in the business in 2019, building on a relationship that began with PIF’s $3.5 billion stake in Uber three years earlier. A CloudKitchens IPO would be closely watched in the Gulf, where dual listings remain rare. Americana Restaurants raised $1.8 billion in 2022 through a Saudi-UAE listing, though its shares have since fallen about 30%.
Operating under the KitchenPark brand in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, CloudKitchens leases shared cooking spaces to restaurants and layers in logistics, delivery, and maintenance services. The model surged during the pandemic as a way for food operators to launch delivery-only brands quickly and cheaply, though many experiments by larger restaurant groups have since tapered off.
