The story of Talabat

When I dragged myself out of bed at 5 a.m. this morning, groggy and sleep-deprived, I shuffled to the kitchen table, and remembered – I’d forgotten to pick up coffee capsules the evening before.

How was I supposed to write this without caffeine?

Desperate times call for quick thinking. I grabbed my phone, tapped a few buttons, and waited. Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang. Standing there was a guardian angel in loud orange, holding the elixir that would save my morning.

I don’t usually believe in signs, but c’mon!

Founded in 2004 by a group of friends in Kuwait, Talabat started as an ambitious dream in a country where only 30% of the population had internet access.

Fast forward to 2015, and it’s acquired by Rocket Internet for $170 million—the largest startup exit in the Middle East at the time.

But the story doesn’t stop there.

Now, almost two decades later, Talabat is on track for an IPO in Q4 2024. Its parent company, Delivery Hero, plans to raise $1 billion with the listing, marking Talabat as the first tech company to debut on the Dubai Stock Exchange.

So, how did it get kickstarted?

Well, it began with Abdulaziz Al Loughani, and his bold conviction that online delivery could thrive in a market that wasn’t ready for it — until it was.

🚰 Untapped potential

In 2005, Kuwait’s startup ecosystem was still in its infancy. Platforms like Q8car and Koutbo6.com were emerging alongside Talabat, which drew inspiration from Egypt’s Otlob, one of the region's first food delivery platforms, founded by Ayman Rashed in 1999.

The name "Talabat" comes from an Arabic word meaning "orders."

Talabat’s founders pooled together $13,000 to get the platform off the ground, but the early days were tough. They struggled to convert users into paying customers—it was estimated that only 1% of registered users were placing orders.

That’s when Abdulaziz Al Loughani saw an opportunity. At the time, he was running his own online pharmacy platform but quickly realised that the market wasn’t ready for it. However, Talabat was sitting on a goldmine.

Traditional food ordering through phone calls was slow, inconvenient, and frustrating.

Talabat promised to revolutionise that process.

Despite skepticism from colleagues and family — probably justified given the low internet penetration in Kuwait — Al Loughani bought into Talabat in 2007, securing 90% of the company through a loan, leaving one of the original founders, Khaled Al Otaibi, with a 10% stake.

At the time, Talabat was generating about $10,000 in monthly revenue, processing around 200 orders a day, with over 30 registered restaurants, and a lean team of five.

Living on just $1,000 a month to pay off his loan, Al Loughani got to work.