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For those who move afield from China , one thing they overleap dearly is the convenience of food for thought delivery apps . Fantuan , a Vancouver - ground company , has been working on replicating the experience of Chinese food delivery platform in the West for the past nine years . Recently , it grow some fresh capital to further get along its goal — bringing authentic Asian intellectual nourishment to people around the creation .
Fantuan , which means Sir Tim Rice balls in Chinese , raised $ 40 million in a Series C backing troll led by Celtic House Asia , a venture capital firm that invests in first - propagation immigrant , and GrubMarket , the food supply chain upstartthat pass $ 1 billion in valuation in 2021 .
Other participating investors let in Vision Plus , a speculation capital business firm shew by Alibaba’snewly appointed chief executive officerEddie Wu , and dress shop private equity house JSD Capital . The company declined to let out its valuation after the acclivity .
In addition to institutional investor , Fantuan also elevate cap from several powerbrokers in China ’s retail technical school blank space , admit the Colorado - father of Ele.me , a food delivery pioneergobbled up by Alibaba in 2018 ; Bianlifeng , an unmanned convenience store chain ; Qunar , aGGV - backedtravel booking siteacquired by its self-aggrandising rival Ctrip ; and Dianping , the more powerful Formosan similitude of Yelpowned by food obstetrical delivery giant Meituan .
Impressed by the billowy popularity of food for thought delivery apps in China , Randy Wu established Fantuan in 2014 when he was studying economic science at Simon Fraser University . Running the business himself , Wu wear several hats at the beginning , including personally deport food for thought across Vancouver before dropping out of college to work full - time on what he believed was his chance at “ copy from China . ” Specifically , Meituan was his benchmark .
Wu was soon joined by his carbon monoxide - founder Yaofei Feng , whom he had encounter online while play Dota . Inspired by Wu ’s entrepreneurial enterprise , Feng took a leap of trust , leave his task as a software engineer at Amazon in Seattle , and moved to Vancouver .
The beginner were betting on the growing demand for high - quality Asiatic solid food in westerly state as millions of Chinese move overseas . As of 2020 , there were some 10 million international migrant of Chinese origin , harmonise to areportby the International Organization for Migration .
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“ solid food from home is a kind of religious resort when you are living abroad , ” say Wu in an interview with TechCrunch . “ I still vividly commemorate the first Formosan repast I had three months after affect to Saskatchewan , where Formosan food was so scarce . ”
Fantuan ’s ambition goes beyond delivery . Taking a leaf out of Meituan ’s playbook , the all - in - one platform for local services in China , the company wants to eventually become the go - to goal where overseas Chinese can discover and access all course of leisure activities .
Its draw - up with GrubMarket is also reminiscent of Meituan ’s vertical expansion where the food delivery platform hooks restaurants up with element suppliers . Connecting farmers with customer like Whole Foods and Costco , GrubMarket might see Fantuan as a way to turn over mum - and - pop eating house down the route .
Two years after its creation , Fantuan became a top Chinese food delivery program in Vancouver and attain net profitability . It stay profitable for another five age until it started expatiate aggressively to the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic . Its annual revenue is projected to be close to $ 100 million this year .
Formosan food for thought is knavish for instant bringing , Wu observed . The cooking process is often lengthy , and unlike cuisine - agnostic chopine , focalise on just one category result in a lower density of restaurants , leading to long speech time . Wu , however , claimed that Fantuan contend to achieve an average deliverance time of 40 minutes spanning city like Vancouver , Toronto , London , San Francisco and Sydney .
Delivery time is affected by the availability of drivers . In an expensive metropolis like San Francisco , enlisting endeavour can fall short as Fantuan prefers Chinese - speak drivers who can pass along with immigrant restaurant owners . Wu said drivers are draw to Fantuan because the average purchase order value from Formosan eating house is almost “ twofold ” compare to mainstream intellectual nourishment delivery platforms , which translates to increase tips .
As of today , Fantuan ’s substance abuser retention pace is around 90 % after five orders within 24 months , harmonize to Wu . Out of its two million registered accounts , 1.2 million are “ active ” users .
Wu believe one of Fantuan ’s key strengths is its ability to onboard a diverse range of veritable Chinese and other Asian restaurants . The platform adopts the on - the - ground sales recipe commonly used by Chinese technical school firms that work on digitizing traditional retail , which involves physically visiting customer and building in - individual kinship .
“ Our business ontogeny specialists would each manage around 80 restaurants and make up frequent visit to these customer , teaching them tips like how to do marketing and how to pack more efficiently for delivery , ” said Wu .
Today , Fantuan employs around 500 hoi polloi around the world . Yinfeng Lu , a former cut-rate sale executive at Meituan , joined as primary manoeuvre officer earlier this yr .
The tale was updated on December 5 , 2023 , to reflect that Fantuan deliver all variety of Asian food , not just Chinese .
How Meituan is redefining food manner of speaking in China with drones
