Kaso Wins a Global Recognition Award 2026
A purchasing manager at a Dubai hotel sends seventeen WhatsApp voice notes every morning before 8 AM. By 10 AM, three have been misheard, one missed the cut-off, and the kitchen is running short. Kaso was built to end that morning entirely. For building the Middle East’s #1 AI-powered B2B food supply chain platform that has eliminated order errors by 80%, saved restaurant operators 2 hours daily, reduced food waste by 20%, and served 5,000-plus partners with 5x year-over-year growth, it has earned a 2026 Global Recognition Award.
Technical Innovation and Architecture
Kaso‘s platform serves both sides of the B2B food transaction with purpose-built AI. For suppliers: a Sales AI that autonomously wins new restaurant customers and identifies upsell opportunities; a Smart Digital Catalog with encrypted per-client pricing, ERP integration, and delivery cut-off management; and an omnichannel order inbox capturing orders from Email, WhatsApp, phone, and web into a single structured workflow. For restaurants: a unified ordering app replacing fragmented supplier conversations, automated LPO generation, delivery tracking, and a supplier marketplace for price comparison and new supplier discovery.
The advanced analytics layer surfaces item-level spending, top-10 supplier breakdowns, and waste identification triggers, enabling data-informed ordering rather than intuition-based procurement. The F&B Fintech vertical, launched in July 2023, resolves the cash flow asymmetry that has historically constrained both sides: suppliers receive instant payment upon order confirmation, eliminating 30-90-day receivable cycles; restaurants receive extended credit terms, eliminating cash-on-delivery purchasing constraints.
Market Strategy and Leadership
Kaso was founded in 2021 in Dubai by Manar Alkassar (alum of Rocket Internet and Helpling ME) and Ahmed Soliman, whose 13-year entrepreneurial partnership predates Kaso by a decade. As a YC W22 alumnus with Tom Blomfield (Monzo co-founder) as primary partner, Kaso raised $12.6 million across two seed rounds, with the $10.5 million 2023 extension drawing BY VP, Hala Ventures, Pioneer Fund (340+ YC alums), Vulpes Ventures, and GFC and MSA re-participating. The 5x year-over-year growth and 5,000-plus partners confirm marketplace flywheel dynamics: more restaurants attract more suppliers, whose presence attracts more restaurants.
The $1 billion GMV target reflects the structural scale of MENA’s restaurant supply market, where even a moderate market share translates into a multi-billion-dirham annual transaction flow. Geographic expansion from the UAE and Saudi Arabia follows the GCC hospitality investment acceleration driven by Vision 2030 and the UAE National Agenda’s tourism growth, with each new market entry building on a platform architecture that can be transferred without rebuilding.
Industry Impact and Future Vision
The MENA food supply chain is one of the last major B2B commercial relationships in the region where WhatsApp voice notes remain the dominant transaction medium — not because better solutions were not needed, but because no platform had solved both sides of the marketplace simultaneously. Kaso’s 20% food waste reduction is a data-verified operational outcome that, at MENA’s restaurant sector scale, represents thousands of tonnes of food saved annually from supply chain inefficiency. The fintech layer’s instant payment and credit extension collectively address the financial infrastructure gap that has prevented B2B food supply digitization from reaching the adoption velocity of consumer-facing F&B technology.
The roadmap extends Sales AI into predictive demand intelligence, analytics into full ESG reporting, and the fintech vertical into a comprehensive B2B financial operating system for MENA’s F&B sector. Kaso earns the 2026 Global Recognition Award for building the AI-powered food supply chain infrastructure that is ending MENA’s WhatsApp ordering era one restaurant at a time.
Sales AI: autonomous sales intelligence that wins new restaurant customers, prioritizes outreach, and identifies upsell opportunities for F&B suppliers, functioning as a digital sales agent beyond what human sales teams can monitor across hundreds of accounts
Omnichannel order capture: unified inbox processing orders from Email, WhatsApp, phone, and web into a single structured workflow, absorbing existing supplier communication channels without requiring behavioral change from restaurant operators
Smart Digital Catalog: encrypted per-client pricing, ERP integration, cut-off time management, and MOQ settings, giving suppliers the product data infrastructure that enables automated and accurate order processing
Advanced analytics: item-level spending analysis, top-10 supplier breakdowns, order pattern insights, and waste identification triggers enabling data-informed procurement rather than intuition-based ordering
Automated LPO generation: eliminates hours of manual purchase order documentation per week for restaurant procurement managers
ERP, CRM, and payments synchronization: real-time back-office data flow from order placement to fulfillment without manual re-entry
F&B Fintech vertical: instant payment to suppliers post-order confirmation, extended credit terms for restaurants, and digital payment processing across B2B food transactions
5,000+ active partners across the UAE and Saudi Arabia, confirmed as the Middle East’s largest B2B food ordering platform by partner count
5x year-over-year growth before the July 2023 seed extension, confirming marketplace flywheel dynamics rather than linear sales growth
80% reduction in order errors confirmed as a platform performance metric
2 hours of daily time saved per restaurant operator through structured digital ordering vs. manual WhatsApp workflows
20% food waste reduction enabled through advanced procurement analytics
$12.6 million total raised across two seed rounds with a geographically diverse institutional investor syndicate
YC W22 batch alums with Tom Blomfield (Monzo co-founder) as primary YC partner
$1 billion GMV target stated at the time of seed extension
Middle East’s #1 B2B food supply ordering platform designation, confirmed on YC company profile and platform communications
Geographic expansion from UAE and Saudi Arabia through GCC, following Vision 2030 and UAE National Agenda hospitality investment acceleration
Marketplace flywheel architecture: restaurant acquisition accelerates supplier acquisition; supplier network density accelerates restaurant acquisition
F&B Fintech vertical positions Kaso toward full B2B financial operating system status for MENA’s restaurant sector, expanding revenue beyond transaction take-rate into credit, payment processing, and supply chain finance
Manar Alkassar’s Rocket Internet background provides institutional MENA marketplace scaling methodology directly applicable to Kaso’s two-sided market architecture
Investor syndicate geographic diversity (KSA, MENA, Singapore, US) confirms cross-regional institutional validation of the platform thesis
Mobile-first app with Google Play Store listing updated as recently as February 2026, confirming active development and continuous product improvement
Restaurants order from all suppliers in one app, replacing seventeen separate WhatsApp conversations with a single structured flow
No behavioral change required for onboarding: suppliers continue receiving WhatsApp and phone orders, which Kaso captures into the structured system automatically
Supplier marketplace enables restaurant operators to discover and compare new suppliers with verified pricing without making a single phone call
ERP integration for suppliers means Kaso connects to existing back-office systems rather than requiring replacement of established infrastructure
Credit facilities for restaurants are embedded in the ordering workflow, available at the moment of purchase without a separate application process
Mission explicitly oriented around sustainability: “To promote sustainability by reducing waste through technology, smarter supply chain management, and genuine support.”
20% food waste reduction enabled through advanced procurement analytics, contributing directly to the UAE and Saudi Arabia’s national sustainability agendas at the supply chain infrastructure level
UAE Year of Sustainability 2023 alignment confirmed in seed round announcement, reflecting deliberate positioning within the national environmental priority framework
Financial inclusion for small restaurant operators: extended credit terms make structured B2B credit accessible to F&B entrepreneurs who have historically been excluded from formal supplier credit relationships
Instant payment for suppliers addresses supplier financial stress by eliminating the 30-90 day receivable cycles that disproportionately impact small F&B distributors with limited working capital capacity
WhatsApp ordering replacement reduces phone and voice note-based miscommunication errors, providing food safety benefits alongside operational efficiency — wrong ingredient deliveries create health risks that structured digital ordering eliminates
