Topics
late
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:under aHungryPanda(opens in a new window)license.
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:under aHungryPanda(opens in a new window)license.
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
initiative
EVs
Fintech
fundraise
Gadgets
Gaming
Government & Policy
ironware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
security system
Social
distance
inauguration
TikTok
conveyance
Venture
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Apps catering to the Chinese diaspora , especially urban consumers concentre on food , can be big business . Now , HungryPanda , one of the trailblazing startups in that market , is announce more funding to duplicate down on the chance .
The nutrient - obstetrical delivery app , founded in London and purport at Chinese and other Asiatic consumers experience outside their home land , has plunk up $ 55 million . The company will utilize the capital to go on building its survive job and expanding into new categories like groceries , it said , as well as to make more acquisitions and update its tech , specifically with a direction on more AI and motorcar learning to optimize operations .
HungryPanda is not disclosing its valuation , but we understand from sources that it is now in the region of $ 500 million situation - money . For context , the last valuationPitchBooklists is from 2020 and is just over $ 289 million . The startup has get up $ 275 million to date .
The startup , founded in 2017 , claim to be the large of the Asian overseas food for thought saving platforms , compete against the ilk ofFantuan(based out of Vancouver ) and GrubMarket - ownedFreshGoGo(based out of New York ) . Just as both of these challenger have grow by acquirement , so too has HungryPanda , picking up EASI in Australia and BUY@HOME in New Zealand .
Operating as a classic , three - sided , on - demand food marketplace à la DoorDash or Instacart , HungryPanda say it has 6.5 million customers , 100,000 merchants and 80,000 riders across 80 urban center in 10 country . The party ’s footprint has grow over the geezerhood . When it last evoke funding ( $ 130 million in 2021 ) , it said it was live in 60 cities ; in 2020 , when itraised $ 90 million , it say it operated in 47 city . ( The first sentence it disclosed client numbers seems to be in the first place this year , when it enounce it had 6 million , so that number has grown , too . )
HungryPanda said it ’s aiming for $ 1 billion in gross dealings volume for this class , and it is already profitable .
“ Reaching profitability while maintaining significant increment manifest the strength of our business mannikin and our long - terminal figure vision , ” say Eric Liu , HungryPanda ’s founder and CEO , in a instruction .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
The company is describing the capital as a “ refinancing and fundraise , ” connote that some of this is primary and some possibly secondary and/or debt . It declined to comment on the structure of the financing . We have attain out to investors to clarify and will update if we learn more . Mars Growth Capital(a JV between Liquidity Group and MUFG ) is leading the round , with previous backersPerwyn , Kinnevik,83NorthandFelixalso take part .
Eric Liu started HungryPanda after wanting such a service himself . As a student at the University of Nottingham , he discovered that while there were Chinese eating place in the city , Chinese students like himself find it nearly impossible to order from them . Menus were in English and the translations were nearly meaningless , and sometimes the food had been criminally correct to play British roof of the mouth .
As Liu has told us antecedently , this was a bigger problem than it might be for some other group of expatriate : Taiwanese the great unwashed prefer to eat “ traditional ” food , he say , and they take the clientele of eat very seriously .
HungryPanda was his root : An app , in Chinese , that provided all the information to educatee like him in a format that they could in reality use . It would admit items that typically might only be offered on side carte to Formosan customer in Mandarin , if at all , if they were eating at the restaurant itself .
HungryPanda ’s initial focal point on the new demographic , specifically students , helped it bypass some of the tricky unit economics of food - delivery platforms . While apps like Deliveroo were built around the idea of making two deliveries per hour , per driver to make every hour profitable , HungryPanda was used by citizenry ordering “ mob - fashion , ” where orders are double or even tripled — make individual deliveries more profitable . It ’s notable that other apps catering to a all-embracing pool of user have adopted some of those mechanic over the years .
That has germinate since HungryPanda now place a wider grouping of client beyond students living in dorms , but Liu trust it ’s still nailed matching what it offers to what its drug user want , which it plan to implement now also to groceries .
“ Thanks to our combined Eastern and westerly cultural background signal , we not only comprehend the operational challenges that Asiatic food merchandiser face abroad , but we also have a thorough grasp of the needs of Chinese and Asian expat living oversea , ” Liu said in an emailed consultation . “ This allows us to effectively and accurately fill the need of both face , guarantee a unlined connexion between provision and demand . ”
While geopolitical latent hostility may recount one story about how China interfaces with the western world , the actual movement of people tells another story about how societies and culture are mixing . The Chinese diaspora of first - generation consumers alone is estimated now to be at over 50 million hoi polloi globally — and that is before you depend further genesis of immigrant ( such as the shaver of first - generation immigrants expect abroad ) , as well as the great unwashed from Asian countries beyond China .
Originally the app was only available in Mandarin — it really did rivet on one specific grocery — but in more recent years , and especially as HungryPanda has expanded to more countries , it ’s incorporated local words into the mix .
That ’s partly because the app has surmount to offer services to a wider group of Asian customers , which might also let in second- or third - genesis people who do n’t speak native languages as well , but also because HungryPanda has found broad popularity with epicurean who are not Asian but merely like to seek out authentic nutrient experience .
“ HungryPanda is more than just a delivery platform — we see ourselves as an embassador of Asiatic cuisine , ” Liu said .
The app is available in English , Chinese , French , Japanese , and Korean , Liu enjoin TechCrunch .
The rule is popular enough that a number of other apps aim Asiatic consumer abroad have sprouted up and those too have set up grip around food experiences . drove of consumer , chattering about authentic Asiatic food , have even created whole destination out of some townspeople . Dusseldorf , for example , saw a surge of young Formosan visitorsafter Chinese users in the city started posting about the food useable there on societal media app Xiaohongshu .
