Talabat

Talabat (Arabic: طلبات, Ṭalabāt) is an online food ordering company founded in Kuwait. It operates in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt. Talabat is the largest online food ordering company in the Middle East.

Talabat
Type of site
E-commerce
Available inEnglish, Arabic
Founded2004 (2004)
Area served
OwnerDelivery Hero AG
Founder(s)Khaled Alotaibi and Abdulaziz Al Loughani
CEOTomaso Rodriguez
IndustryInternet
ServicesOnline food ordering,
Food delivery
Employees>1000
URLOfficial website

History
Previous logo

In 2004, Talabat General Trading and Contracting Company was founded by Abdulaziz Al Loughani [1] and Khaled Al Otaibi[2] in Kuwait. The name "talabat" derives from the Arabic language and literally means "orders" or "requests".

As Talabat’s popularity grew locally, it won the "Best E-Business Award" repeatedly in 2008 and 2009 with special recognition from the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In 2010, the business was operating out of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with an average of 1,250 daily transactions. Talabat then underwent key changes such as the re-branding from 6alabat.com to Talabat.com, a shift from a hybrid form of Arabic and English spelling to a pure English spelling.

In 2011, a revamp of the platform took place with a new website layout and improvement in user interface.

In 2012, Talabat expanded to Bahrain, UAE and Oman. On 19 January 2012, Talabat released its mobile application for Android devices. An app for iOS devices was also released.

In 2013, it continued its expansion to Qatar.

In 2015, Talabat was acquired by the global German e-commerce group Rocket Internet for US$170 million. [3] It became part of Rocket Internet's business unit Global Online Takeaway Group.[4]

In 2016, Rocket Internet's food delivery business, including Talabat, was taken over by online food marketplace Delivery Hero.[5] In line with this acquisition, Abdulhamid Alomar took over as the CEO of the company.

In 2017, Talabat expanded its operations to Jordan.

In 2019, former Grab executive Tomaso Rodriguez was appointed as CEO, after the stepping down of Abdulhamid Alomar.  [6]

Lawsuits were filed against the company after they were found violating fair competition rules in Kuwait. A settlement plea made by Talabat was also turned down. [7]

In January 2020, food delivery company Carriage, also owned by Delivery Hero, was absorbed by Talabat. [8][9]

In August 2020, it has been confirmed the Egyptian food delivery service Otlob, which was in operation since 1999 and became a Delivery Hero subsidiary in 2016, is getting rebranded as Talabat. As of September 2020, Talabat operates in Egypt.[10]

In December 2020, Talabat and Huawei signed a partnership to list Talabat App in Huawei marketplace.[11]

References
  1. "The war story behind Rocket Internet's acquisition of Kuwait's Talabat". Wamda. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  2. "How did Kuwait produce some of the Middle East's largest exits?". Wamda. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  3. "Rocket Internet acquires Kuwait's Talabat for $170M, largest MENA tech acquisition since Maktoob". Wamda. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  4. "Rocket Internet's Food Group Eats Up Talabat For $170M And 24h In The Middle East". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  5. "Delivery Hero's Kuwait 2018 revenue surges twofold to $110 million, Saudi grows 87% to $103 million". MENAbytes. 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  6. "Delivery Hero's Talabat appoints former Grab executive Tomaso Rodriguez as CEO". MENAbytes. 2019-09-29. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  7. "Settlement offer from Talabat and Carriage refused". Arab Times Online. 2019-11-16. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  8. "Delivery Hero's Talabat absorbs Carriage's operations across the region". MENAbytes. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  9. "EXCLUSIVE: Kuwaiti food delivery startup Carriage was acquired for ~$100 million by Delivery Hero". MENAbytes. 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  10. Paracha, Zubair Naeem (2020-08-05). "Delivery Hero is rebranding Otlob to Talabat, plans to create 50,000 freelance rider jobs in Egypt". MENAbytes. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  11. البيان, دبي-. "طلبات ينضم إلى متجر هواوي للتطبيقات في الإمارات - الاقتصادي - السوق المحلي - البيان". www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-01-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.