Calo, a startup in the food tech sector, has raised $13M in a Pre-Series A round led by Nuwa Capital and STV. Khwarizmi Ventures, Al Faisaliah Group, AlRajhi Family Office, and other investors participated in the most recent funding round for Calo as well. The startup, which offers customised meal subscriptions to a growing client base of health-conscious consumers, was founded in November 2019 and is a direct-to-consumer foodtech startup. After raising its SEED round last year, Calo has now received $26.5M in investments.
Over the past few years, Bahrain’s VC ecosystem has constantly expanded. The country had YoY growth of 217% last year, breaking the $50M barrier for the first time. Bahrain made it to the list of top MENA geographies this year because of a Mega Deal ($100M+) recorded by cryptocurrency platform Rain, which put the ecosystem on the VC map. The VC industry appears to be on the rise as investors focus on the area, as evidenced by Eat closing significant deals and the recent $13M round closed by Calo.
Calo serves personalized meal subscriptions, catered towards fitness or lifestyle goals. Customers receive their meals daily and get to choose from a rotating menu. Ahmed Alrawi, CEO at Calo, highlights, “We’re delivering millions of meals per year and have consistently been quadrupling in growth year over year. We foresee that this trend continues over the next few years as the wellness wave continues to grow. Today, there’s no global leader in the personalized nutrition space. We believe we can be that company. The biggest food companies in the world serve food that’s good for your tastebuds, but terrible for your body. We’re on a mission to change that.”
Calo’s vertically integrated model allows the company to serve its customers a high-quality personalized experience while maintaining healthy margins, making the company’s business units very profitable. Nitin Reen, partner at Nuwa Capital, said, “The team at Calo has mastered the ability to hone the fundamentals while continuing to innovate within the realm of FoodTech. However, what truly makes Calo special is that they maintain an unrelenting focus on their customers in their journey to a healthy lifestyle. We have strong belief in the founders and their traction and ability to recruit a very special team, in such a short time, is a testament to their capabilities and vision. We are very excited to partner with Calo in their next chapter of growth and have every confidence that the team will continue to succeed.”
The new funds will be used to double down on the GCC market, serve new categories, and explore opportunities for regional and international expansion. The company has expanded to 2 additional countries and 6 new cities this year including Dammam and Jeddah in Saudi, as well as the UAE and Kuwait. Mazin Alzaidi, general partner at STV, concluded, “Calo is truly making healthy easy for thousands of customers across the region. The continuous growth and positive reviews are a sentiment to the teams obsession with the customer and focus on operational excellence. Calo is solving a real problem, and we are excited to double down on our partnership with the team and company as they solve it for thousands more.”
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter for startup & business news and inspiring stories of MENA businesses, entrepreneurs, startups, innovators, investors, and change-makers.
To report any issue or error in the story, please email us editor [at] rasmal [dot] com.
Last Updated on December 12, 2022 by Safiya K
