• Saudi Arabia-based foodtech startup Matbakhi, has raised a $2.3 million pre-Seed round led by Bugshan Investment Company along with an undisclosed group of angel investors.
• Founded in October 2022 by Joe Frem and Rodolph Njeim, Matbakhi operates a series of cloud kitchens in five locations across Riyadh, with a focus to help food and beverage (F&B) brands create chef-driven food concepts.
• It plans to use the fresh capital infusion to introduce its “hotel cloud kitchen model,” with plans to accelerate its expansion in Riyadh and Eastern Region to grow its clientele.

Press release 

Riyadh-based food-tech company Matbakhi has raised $2.3M in a pre-seed round led by Bugshan Investment Company and various angel investors. 

Founded in October 2022 by Joe Frem and Rodolph Njeim, Matbakhi collaborates with local Saudi chefs to democratize access to carefully curated F&B concepts.

While big aspirations are announced for the Saudi Arabian hospitality sector until 2030, many challenges are impacting hotel F&B profitability, hindering the quality of service and offerings rendered to hotel guests. By acting as the F&B supplier to the hotel, Matbakhi invigorates its menus, improves its customer experience, and ultimately increases its profitability. 

“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”, said Joe Frem, CEO and Co-founder of Matbakhi. “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”

As of January 2023, the startup is operating in 5 locations in Riyadh with 4 brands; with plans to expand its coverage in Riyadh and enter the Eastern Region by the end of 2023, while growing its portfolio to 20 brands. The founders will be using this funding to establish the Hotel Cloud Kitchen model in Saudi while demonstrating the power of its innovative brand incubator. The company aims to become profitable by Q1 2024, by focusing on growth in Riyadh and the Eastern region during 2023.