Chinese food delivery goes global! Meituan Keeta performs strongly in the Middle East, with Brazil as the next target

Meituan's overseas expansion strategy is accelerating. After Keeta captured a significant market share in Saudi Arabia, Meituan is now turning its attention to Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America.

According to media reports, on May 12, Meituan CEO Wang Xing met with Brazilian President Lula and signed a significant investment agreement. Under this agreement, Meituan will officially introduce Keeta to the Brazilian market in the coming months and plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years to support the project's development.

This investment will be used to build a nationwide instant delivery network in Brazil, providing not only takeaway services for local users but also comprehensive services and digital operation tools for local partners to support the business growth of catering merchants.

Wang Xing stated at the meeting, "Brazil is a very large market with huge potential. Keeta will be committed to enhancing the local consumer experience, promoting the development of partner restaurants, and creating more job opportunities locally."

Citigroup's research report pointed out that Keeta has significantly pressured competitors in the Saudi Arabian market through aggressive strategies, demonstrating its initial effectiveness and potential for overseas expansion. This may boost investor confidence in Meituan's long-term growth prospects.

Saudi Market: Keeta's Momentum is Strong, Competitors Under Pressure

The takeaway market in Saudi Arabia is undergoing a dramatic change initiated by Chinese tech giants.

Citigroup's research report released on May 12 noted that Meituan's Keeta app continues to lead the download rankings in Saudi Arabia, indicating that its user base is rapidly growing. This expansion has directly impacted existing market participants, especially smaller companies.

According to the report, Jahez, the second-ranked local takeaway platform in Saudi Arabia, saw its GMV growth sharply slow to 9.5% in the first quarter of 2025, down from 20% in the previous quarter. Jahez chose to protect its profit margins rather than respond to competition with aggressive discounts, a strategy that reduced its order growth rate to 7%.

Meanwhile, market leader HungerStation, under Delivery Hero, still achieved a 20% order growth in the first quarter, although its management acknowledged that it had adopted aggressive promotional strategies for "single meal" orders while also striving to protect profit margins.

Citigroup believes that if Keeta can maintain its strong growth momentum, it is very likely to catch up with or even surpass Jahez in market share by late 2025.

Meituan's Overseas Layout

From the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East and then to Latin America, Meituan's international expansion shows a clear strategic layout.

In the Hong Kong market, Keeta has been operating for two years, helping restaurant partners double their platform sales. After entering Saudi Arabia in September 2024, Keeta has covered all core cities in the country, with rapid growth in user numbers and order volume.

Meituan's management also mentioned Keeta's successful progress in Saudi Arabia during previous earnings calls, noting that it had already covered more than six major cities and viewed food delivery as a recent focus while also exploring the potential of non-food categories like "Little Elephant Supermarket." Management pointed out that the operational environment in Saudi Arabia is superior to that of China in terms of payment willingness, average order value (AOV), and profit margins According to a research report by Morgan Stanley, Keeta currently holds about 10% of the order share in the Saudi food delivery market and is expected to enter the UAE market in the second half of 2025, followed by expansion into Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Analysts predict that under the base case, Keeta is expected to capture 20% of the GCC food delivery market by 2028, achieving a GMV of $6 billion. In an optimistic scenario, this market share could reach 27%, with a GMV of $8 billion