Calo raises $25 million to expand ready-to-eat meal services beyond the Middle East
A company built on increasingly personalized ready-to-eat meals has created a startup in the Middle East Kalo A major funding infusion as it looks to expand both What It can provide time-strapped clients with… where It offers its growing range of dishes that are only heated to eat.
It will hit the meal delivery market in the Middle East $11.2 billion by 2030According to a report from MarkNtel Advisors was published last year. Food aggregators like Careem, Deliveroo, and Talabat have built large businesses by relying on the habits of busy professionals ordering food rather than preparing the meals themselves — largely fueled by Due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Riyadh-based Calo differentiates itself by offering personalized meal subscriptions for niche segments such as weight loss, high protein, or balanced meals – targeting customers who care about what they eat, not just when their food arrives.
The startup plans to focus more on customizing meals to meet more personalized segments and dietary needs, such as meals geared toward those seeking to gain muscle, those with diabetes, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), or PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). cysts). Callow’s hypothesis is that people who fall into these categories will pay a premium for food customization features that meet their convenience needs.
The company is so confident it is onto something, it is also in the process of acquiring an unnamed UK food startup to expand its presence beyond the Middle East next year – with ambitions to expand globally.
To fund the new growth vectors, Calo raised $25 million in Series B funding led by Nuwa Capital with participation from Khwarizm Ventures and STV. It is worth noting that all of these investors are returning investors.
Calo is now worth around $250 million, according to multiple sources TechCrunch spoke to.
The startup, which operates in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, allows users to choose healthy ready-to-eat meals, including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks – offering meal filters such as balanced, high-protein and low-carb. vegetable. Users can customize their meals, plans, and even skip days.
This approach has built momentum in the region: Calo says this year it has served 10 million meals, with the average cost of a meal ranging from $7 to $9.
Following the Series B round, Calo said it aims to close a $25 million extension round by the first quarter of 2025 and has a goal of going public in the next few years. Therefore, this may be the last financing tranche before the company is listed in Saudi Arabia. (With the closing of the Series B, Callow has raised a total of $51 million across multiple rounds.)
“It’s a powerful idea to offer ready-to-eat meals that are nutritious, healthy, and customized to meet your needs,” Khaled Al-Talhouni, managing partner at Nuwa Capital, told TechCrunch over a phone call. “Whether you want to build muscle or lose weight, Calo helps you customize your meals, and we were thrilled by the idea.”
“Gulf Cooperation Council [Gulf Cooperation Council] The market has an inbuilt tendency to demand food. That’s why companies like Talabat and Deliveroo succeed. In addition, Calo’s logistics model, which is similar to the bulk milk production process, puts them in an advantageous position.
Calo was started in Bahrain by Ahmed Al Rawi in 2019. Before that, Al Rawi created another startup for people to book sports stadiums and join ongoing games. Later, he advised startups in New York before starting Callow.
“Before creating the startup, I thought there was not much that could be done in the food delivery space, as startups like Careem already existed. But I realized that a segment of customers wanted personalized meals with a specific number of calories or ingredients, and the incumbents were not offering The functionality is that level of customization,” the narrator told TechCrunch over a phone call.
He noted that services existed to provide meal recommendations based on a person’s height, weight, age, gender, and activity, but they didn’t provide actual meals, which wasn’t ideal for busy professionals — so the narrator saw an opportunity for more information. Customized meal delivery.
According to Calo, people buy 30% more meals on its service compared to an a la carte food aggregator (like Careem). It attributes this commitment to combining the ease of delivering meals and saving its customers the hassle of finding the right dish to achieve their health goals.
The company operates one central kitchen per city, using vans to deliver orders across cities with the help of vans and individual passengers. Per Al-Rawi, Calo currently has 200 pickup trucks cruising around the Middle East.
Customers receive their meals chilled, and can reheat them in the microwave or using a skillet on their stove. The startup said it has been able to keep its operations quick and easy by not having too many delivery centers and sticking to scheduled deliveries.
Future roadmap
In addition to unlocking the new sectors mentioned above, Calo plans to offer deeper customization to users – where they will, for example, be able to select the exact portion of protein, carbohydrates or fat they want in a meal, or remove an ingredient.
The startup is also experimenting with new business models, such as fast-food retail kiosks in places like corporate offices, and an on-demand delivery service.
Saudi Arabia currently represents 70% of Kalo’s revenue, with the UAE coming in second at 15%. However, the narrator told us that he expects the UAE to grow significantly in the coming years.
This year, Calo has achieved nine figures in annual revenue and is operating at roughly break-even. The company aims to achieve profitability by next year, before going public.
“Because we were capital efficient, we didn’t need to raise money and we would have grown organically. But we saw new growth opportunities. We primarily raised money to expand our business models, cater to more sectors, as well as open new geographies,” Al-Rawi added. We serve there.”
