Talabat

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

Talabat (Arabic: طلبات, romanized: Ṭalabāt) is an online food ordering company founded in Kuwait in 2004. As of April 2021, It operates across several Middle Eastern countries including Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq. Since 2016, Talabat has been a subsidiary of Delivery Hero, a German multinational online food delivery company.

While Talabat previously operated in Saudi Arabia, it no longer does. Users in Saudi Arabia are now redirected to HungerStation, another Delivery Hero subsidiary that serves the Saudi market.[1]

History

[edit]
Previous logo

In 2001, four Kuwaiti students in Cairo developed the idea for a company modeled on the Egyptian food ordering service Otlob. In 2004, they founded Talabat General Trading and Contracting Company in Kuwait.[2][3] The name "Talabat" derives from the Arabic language and it means "orders" or "requests".[4]

In 2008 and 2009, Talabat received the “Best E-Business” award in Kuwait.[5][6] with recognition presented by the Emir of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.[7]

In 2009, the business was operating out of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with an average of 1,250 daily transactions. Talabat then underwent 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.[8]

In 2011, the company introduced a new website layout and changes to the user interface.

In 2012, Talabat began operating in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Oman.[9]

In 2013, it began operating in Qatar.[10]

In 2015, Talabat was acquired by the global German e-commerce group Rocket Internet for US$170 million. [11] It became part of Rocket Internet's business unit Global Online Takeaway Group.[12]

In 2016, Rocket Internet's food delivery business, including Talabat, was taken over by online food marketplace Delivery Hero.[13] In line with this acquisition, Abdulhamid Alomar took over as the CEO of the company.[14]

In 2017, Talabat launched operations in Jordan.[15]

In 2019, former Grab executive Tomaso Rodriguez was appointed as CEO, after the stepping down of Abdulhamid Alomar. [16]

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. [17]

In January 2020, the food delivery company Carriage,[18] also owned by Delivery Hero, was absorbed by Talabat. [19][20]

In August 2020, it had been confirmed that the Egyptian food delivery service Otlob, which was in operation since 1999, had become a Delivery Hero subsidiary in 2016. It is getting rebranded as Talabat. As of September 2020, Talabat operates in Egypt.[21]

In October 2020, Talabat stated that it would begin operations in Iraq in early 2021, starting in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, with plans to add other cities later.[22]

In December 2020, Talabat’s app was added to the Huawei marketplace.[23]

In August 2021, Talabat was named the official food delivery provider for Expo 2020. Its pavilion presented concepts such as the cloud kitchen and featured multiple food brands.[24] In September 2021, Talabat and Terminus Group introduced ten autonomous food delivery robots for use by Expo 2020 visitors.[25] Expo 2020 itself launched on October 2021 following a year-long delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[26]

References

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  1. ^ "Hungerstation | Delivery Hero : Delivery Hero - The Easiest Way to Your Favourite Food". Archived from the original on 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  2. ^ The war story behind Rocket Internet's acquisition of Kuwait's Talabat, retrieved 20 May 2025
  3. ^ "Lets Talk Business". GulfBank.
  4. ^ "Development Cost Of A Food Delivery App Like Talabat". www.royex.ae.
  5. ^ Devadiga, Kirti (7 February 2023). "Best E-Business Award Archives". LoudBol.
  6. ^ "How did Kuwait produce some of the Middle East's largest exits?". Wamda. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  7. ^ Devadiga, Kirti (7 February 2023). "receiving special appreciation from Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Archives". LoudBol.
  8. ^ Kadhem, Masooma. "Disrupting An Industry In Five Steps – The Talabat Way – StartUp Bahrain".
  9. ^ Kamel, Deena (12 July 2021). "Food delivery service Talabat to expand UAE operations". The National.
  10. ^ Alagos, Peter (18 June 2022). "talabat plays key role in regional expansion of 'Made in Qatar' brand". Gulf Times.
  11. ^ "Rocket Internet acquires Kuwait's Talabat for $170M, largest MENA tech acquisition since Maktoob". Wamda. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  12. ^ "Rocket Internet's Food Group Eats Up Talabat For $170M And 24h In The Middle East". TechCrunch. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  13. ^ "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.
  14. ^ "Food on-demand: In conversation with Talabat.com". www.sme10x.com.
  15. ^ "Talabat Jordan expands operations to cover entire Kingdom". www.zawya.com.
  16. ^ "Delivery Hero's Talabat appoints former Grab executive Tomaso Rodriguez as CEO". MENAbytes. 2019-09-29. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  17. ^ "Settlement offer from Talabat and Carriage refused". Arab Times Online. 2019-11-16. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  18. ^ "Delivery Hero announces acquisition of Middle Eastern delivery service Carriage | Delivery Hero". www.deliveryhero.com.
  19. ^ "Delivery Hero's Talabat absorbs Carriage's operations across the region". MENAbytes. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  20. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Kuwaiti food delivery startup Carriage was acquired for ~$100 million by Delivery Hero". MENAbytes. 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ Mansoor, Zainab (2020-10-15). "Talabat to launch operations in Iraq". Gulf Business. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  23. ^ البيان, دبي-. "طلبات ينضم إلى متجر هواوي للتطبيقات في الإمارات - الاقتصادي - السوق المحلي - البيان". www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  24. ^ "Talabat selected as official food delivery provider for Expo 2020 Dubai". Arabian Business. 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  25. ^ "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.
  26. ^ "Dubai Expo 2020 postponed to October 1, 2021". cbc.ca.