Kuwait-based foodtech startup Talabat, formerly ‘Otlob’, owned by the German logistics giant Delivery Hero, on Friday announced that the company is projecting plans to expand to Iraq. The news flashed first on Gulf Business.
Founded as Otlob in 2004 by Abdulaziz Al Loughani, Talabat today is the largest online food delivery platform in the Middle East. In May 2017, Delivery Hero acquired another Kuwaiti delivery startup Carriage, and in January this year, Talabat absorbed Carriage’s operations.
According to the statement by the company, Talabat is set to be operational early next year from Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, before expanding to Federal Iraq.
The company aims to transform food delivery in Iraq, helping restaurant partners grow, while allowing customers to enjoy affordability, variety and speed of delivery. The company said that Iraqi customers will be able to download the Talabat app on the IOS app store or Google Play from December onwards.
Speaking of the projected development, Tomaso Rodriguez, CEO at Talabat, said,
“Iraq is a country with a definite love of food, which is why we cannot wait to enter the market. We’re excited to enable that rich culinary heritage to be shared to the broader community by further developing the online delivery experience for customers, and partnering with local restaurants to fuel their growth through our platform, as well as creating employment opportunities for local talent across our operations.”
In April this year, Talabat launched ‘Talabat Daily’ to deliver groceries 27×7 across Dubai. The company also partnered with Dubai’s leading cloud kitchen platform Kitopi to distribute over 20,000 meals to support communities of Dubai which are impacted heavily amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The company also announced a strategic partnership with Booking.com last week to offer customers an 8 percent cashback on their bookings.
