Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick joins Rebel Foods’ $125m round, says source

City Storage Systems, the real estate company of Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, has bought a small stake in cloud kitchen brand Rebel Foods as part of the India-based startup’s ongoing US$125 million funding round, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

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Kalanick’s investment in Rebel Foods, which is valued at US$525 million, follows the shared kitchen startup’s US$25 million round, which saw participation from new backer Goldman Sachs, along with other investors.

Other investors in the ongoing series D round include Coatue Management, Sequoia Capital, and Gojek.

Rebel Foods is now looking to expand overseas, targeting markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, according to the report. It was reported back in August that the startup plans to build 100 Indonesian cloud kitchens with Gojek over the next 18 months, as well as 20 kitchens in the UAE by the end of the year.

According to a 2018 study by the India Brand Equity Foundation, the foodtech sector is expected to balloon to US$2.5 billion by 2021. A Google and Temasek report also said that Southeast Asia’s food delivery market is expected to grow from US$2 billion in 2018 to an estimated US$8 billion in 2025.

Cloud kitchens look to capitalize on the trend, as they are mainly focused on takeaways, with no dine-in facilities.

See also: How ‘cloud kitchens’ will change the way we eat

Kalanick is currently one of the biggest names in the shared kitchen niche. After leaving Uber in 2017 after a myriad of scandals, he built Los Angeles-based CloudKitchens. The former Uber exec was reportedly looking to expand the business to China soon, in partnership with a former exec at bike-sharing firm Ofo.

The company opened its first overseas outlet in May in South Korea.