Chinese food delivery giant Meituan, which operates the Keeta brand in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, will expand to more countries in the Middle East and North Africa, 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 state, by the end of the year, the two people said .
The platform will then travel to Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest cities, by January 2025. Keeta’s plan is to cover 80 percent 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 an expansion into the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain likely next year, the two people said. Because most of the customer service team is in Jordan, that country is also in the pipeline, one of the people said.
The Keeta app for food delivery. Photo: Handout alt=The Keeta app for food delivery. Photo: Handout>
Keeta had considered expanding into Iraq but recently dropped the plan due to “political and security concerns,” they said.
In addition to the Middle East, the company is also exploring the possibility of expanding to Egypt as a first step into North Africa, one of the sources said.
Meituan did not immediately respond for comment 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 Meituan will focus on Saudi Arabia for now, 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 award of “Best Everyday Essential” app on the Google Play Store in Hong Kong.
In the first quarter of this year, Keeta surpassed Foodpanda for the first time to lead the Hong Kong food delivery market in terms of order volume with a 43 percent share, according to local analytics firm Measurable AI.
But Keeta, which has only been in the Saudi market for less than three months, could face stiff competition from global rivals such as Uber Eats and Zomato, as well as HungerStation and Jahez.
