Talabat

Talabat
Type of site
E-commerce
Available inEnglish, Arabic
Founded2004 (2004)
Area served
OwnerDelivery Hero AG
Founder(s)Abdulaziz Al Loughani
CEOTomaso Rodriguez
IndustryInternet
ServicesOnline food ordering, Food delivery
Employees>16,000
URLwww.talabat.com

Talabat (Arabic: طلبات, Ṭalabāt) is an online food ordering company founded in Kuwait in 2004. As of April 2021, Talabat operates in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq. A subsidiary of Delivery Hero since 2016, Talabat has grown to become the leading online food ordering company in the Middle East.

History

[edit]
Previous logo

In 2004, Talabat General Trading and Contracting Company was founded in Kuwait.[1] The name "Talabat" derives from the Arabic language and it means "orders" or "requests".[2]

As Talabat’s popularity grew locally, it won the "Best E-Business Award"[3][4] repeatedly in 2008 and 2009 with special recognition from the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.[5]

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.[6]

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, United Arab Emirates, and Oman.[7]

In 2013, it continued its expansion to Qatar.[8]

In 2015, Talabat was acquired by the global German e-commerce group Rocket Internet for US$170 million. [9] It became part of Rocket Internet's business unit Global Online Takeaway Group.[10]

In 2016, Rocket Internet's food delivery business, including Talabat, was taken over by online food marketplace Delivery Hero.[11] In line with this acquisition, Abdulhamid Alomar took over as the CEO of the company.[12]

In 2017, Talabat expanded its operations to Jordan.[13]

In 2019, former Grab executive Tomaso Rodriguez was appointed as CEO, after the stepping down of Abdulhamid Alomar. [14]

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. [15]

In January 2020, the food delivery company Carriage,[16] also owned by Delivery Hero, was absorbed by Talabat. [17][18]

In August 2020, it has been confirmed that 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.[19]

In October 2020, Talabat announced they will expand into Iraq in early 2021, initially operating in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan before gradually expanding into more cities in the rest of the country.[20]

In December 2020, Talabat and Huawei signed a partnership to list Talabat App in the Huawei marketplace.[21]

In August 2021, Talabat was selected as the official food delivery provider for Expo 2020, and their pavilion would display technological innovations for food delivery, such the cloud kitchen concept, whilst representing multiple food brands.[22] In September 2021, Talabat partnered with Terminus Group, who is also an official premier partner for Expo 2020, to launch ten autonomous, last mile food-delivery robots for Expo visitors.[23] Expo 2020 itself launched on 1 October 2021 following a year-long delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[24]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Lets Talk Business". GulfBank.
  2. ^ "Development Cost Of A Food Delivery App Like Talabat". www.royex.ae.
  3. ^ Devadiga, Kirti (7 February 2023). "Best E-Business Award Archives". LoudBol.
  4. ^ "How did Kuwait produce some of the Middle East's largest exits?". Wamda. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  5. ^ Devadiga, Kirti (7 February 2023). "receiving special appreciation from Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Archives". LoudBol.
  6. ^ Kadhem, Masooma. "Disrupting An Industry In Five Steps – The Talabat Way – StartUp Bahrain".
  7. ^ Kamel, Deena (12 July 2021). "Food delivery service Talabat to expand UAE operations". The National.
  8. ^ Alagos, Peter (18 June 2022). "talabat plays key role in regional expansion of 'Made in Qatar' brand". Gulf Times.
  9. ^ "Rocket Internet acquires Kuwait's Talabat for $170M, largest MENA tech acquisition since Maktoob". Wamda. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  10. ^ "Rocket Internet's Food Group Eats Up Talabat For $170M And 24h In The Middle East". TechCrunch. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  11. ^ "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.
  12. ^ "Food on-demand: In conversation with Talabat.com". www.sme10x.com.
  13. ^ "Talabat Jordan expands operations to cover entire Kingdom". www.zawya.com.
  14. ^ "Delivery Hero's Talabat appoints former Grab executive Tomaso Rodriguez as CEO". MENAbytes. 2019-09-29. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  15. ^ "Settlement offer from Talabat and Carriage refused". Arab Times Online. 2019-11-16. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  16. ^ "Delivery Hero announces acquisition of Middle Eastern delivery service Carriage | Delivery Hero". www.deliveryhero.com.
  17. ^ "Delivery Hero's Talabat absorbs Carriage's operations across the region". MENAbytes. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  18. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Kuwaiti food delivery startup Carriage was acquired for ~$100 million by Delivery Hero". MENAbytes. 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ Mansoor, Zainab (2020-10-15). "Talabat to launch operations in Iraq". Gulf Business. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  21. ^ البيان, دبي-. "طلبات ينضم إلى متجر هواوي للتطبيقات في الإمارات - الاقتصادي - السوق المحلي - البيان". www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  22. ^ "Talabat selected as official food delivery provider for Expo 2020 Dubai". Arabian Business. 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  23. ^ "Talabat Partners with Terminus Group to Launch Sustainable Last-Mile Delivery with Fully Autonomous Food Delivery Robots at Expo 2020 Dubai". Associated Press. 2021-09-29. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  24. ^ "Dubai Expo 2020 postponed to October 1, 2021". cbc.ca.
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