Chinese food delivery giant Meituan, which operates the Keeta brand in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, is set to expand to more Middle Eastern and North African countries, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Keeta, which launched in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Kharj in September and has since entered the capital Riyadh, will be available in Dammam and Jeddah, two other major cities in the Gulf nation, by year end, the two people said.
The platform will then go to Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest cities, by January 2025. Keeta’s plan is to cover 80 per cent of Saudi Arabia by July 2025, one of the sources said.
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It also has ambitious plans for the rest of the Middle East, including expanding to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain likely next year, the two people said. As most of the customer service team is in Jordan, that country is also in its pipeline, one of the people said.
The Keeta food delivery app. Photo: Handout alt=The Keeta food delivery app. Photo: Handout>
Keeta had considered expanding to Iraq, but recently dropped the plan due to “political and safety issues”, they said.
Besides the Middle East, the company is also studying the possibility of expanding to Egypt, as the first step into North Africa, one of the sources said.
Meituan did not immediately respond for comment on Monday.
Wang Xing, founder and CEO of Meituan, said in an earnings call last week that the company has seen some “encouraging results” in Saudi Arabia. When asked about plans in other countries, Wang said that Meituan will focus on Saudi Arabia for the time being, but “in the longer term … we want to become a global company.”
Launched in Hong Kong in May 2023, Keeta is the food delivery brand that Beijing-based Meituan hopes to use to conquer the overseas market. It recently received the distinction of “Best Everyday Essential” app on Google’s Play Store in Hong Kong.
In the first quarter of this year, Keeta surpassed Foodpanda for the first time to lead Hong Kong’s food-delivery market by number of orders with a 43 per cent share, according to local analytics firm Measurable AI.
But Keeta, which has only been in the Saudi market for less than three months, may face fierce competition from global rivals such as Uber Eats and Zomato, as well as HungerStation and Jahez.
