Locale, UAE-based foodpreneur-focused marketplace for virtual restaurants, built by cloud kitchen platform KRUSH Brands raised $4.5 million in a pre-Series A round from UAE-based family office Skelmore Holdings.

KRUSH Brands recently launched Locale, a curated online marketplace for local food brands. Locale aligns its interests with foodpreneurs, customers and its employees by focusing on making a profit on food.

“We are proud to have Skelmore Holdings as our first and as a strategic investor in KRUSH Brands. We selected Skelmore Holdings because of our shared ethics, values and vision, focus on quality and for their strategic capabilities. Their investment represents a pivotal moment in our company as we consolidate and capitalise on our intellectual know how to unlock value and accelerate growth,” Ian Ohan, Founder of Locale, said.

The investment is being used to grow Locale’s existing proprietary brand portfolio into a highly curated, foodpreneur-led group of around 20 innovative brands, build out a suite of next generation, technology-enabled multi-kitchens, accelerate its food technology program and bolster its senior leadership team.

“We are pleased and excited with our investment in KRUSH Brands and to be part of the expansion of this unique business model and technology. We believe in Ian’s dynamic leadership and vision and in his exceptional ethical and moral standards which are reflected in the progressive culture of KRUSH Brands and its unique optimisation of human capital and customer engagement,” Amin Kadrie, Chairman at Skelmore Holdings, said.

Also Read: Jordan’s cloud kitchen Kitchefy raised $325k in a pre-Seed round