Dubai-based unicorn Kitopi reportedly lays off 10% of its head office staff

Dubai cloud kitchen platform Kitopi has reportedly let go 93 of its head office staff, amid a deteriorating economic climate.

The job cuts represent a 10% cut of head office staff and 1.86% of its entire workforce number of 5,000, the report stated.

"We’ve made the decision to streamline, simplify and focus our efforts across the business to be more effective and efficient. As a result, we have reduced our global workforce by 1.86%," a Kitopi spokesperson said.

Founded in 2018, Kitopi, which stands for Kitchen Utopia, was founded by Mohamad Ballout, Saman Darkan, Bader Ataya and Andy Andreas to help food brands scale and expand across borders with minimal capital expenditures and operating expenses by taking care of the entire operations process – from supply chain and staff training to food preparation, delivery, and customer experience.

The tech unicorn partners with over 200 brands in the food and beverage industry, across five countries, operating 200-plus kitchens.

It earned its unicorn status in July 2021, after a $415 million Series C funding round, led by technology-focused investment fund, Softbank Group Corp’s Vision Fund 2. Its last investment round was in May this year, where it raised $300 million in a Series C round from B. Riley Financial.

Amid a turbulent global economy, the unicorn joins the group of MENA-based tech startups, such as Swvl, crypto-backed Rain, and Turkish startup Getir among others, that have laid off employees this year as they were forced to focus on profits instead of expansion after years of strong growth.