Apps aimed at Chinese consumers and the broader Asian diaspora, especially food-focused urban consumers, could be big business. HungryPanda, one of the pioneering startups in that market, is announcing further funding.
Founded in London, the food delivery app primarily targets Chinese and other Asian consumers living outside their home country, and generated $55 million in revenue. The company will use the capital to continue building its existing business and expand into new categories such as groceries.
HungryPanda has not disclosed its valuation, but sources say it is currently valued at around $500 million post-money. For context, the last valuation listed by PitchBook was in 2020, at just over $289 million. The startup has raised $275 million to date.
Founded in 2017, the startup claims to be Asia's largest overseas food delivery platform, competing with the likes of Fantuan (based in Vancouver) and GrubMarket-owned FreshGoGo (based in New York). are.
Operating as a classic three-sided on-demand food marketplace like DoorDash or Instacart, HungryPanda currently has 6 million customers, 100,000 sellers, and 80,000 people in 80 cities across 10 countries. Said to have 300 passengers. The company's footprint has expanded over the years. The last time it raised funding ($130 million in 2021), it said it was performing in 60 cities. When it raised $90 million in 2020, the company said it had operations in 47 cities. (The 6 million number is new, as the company has never revealed its customer numbers before 2024.)
HungryPanda said it is aiming for $1 billion in total transaction volume this year and is already turning a profit.
“Achieving profitability while sustaining significant growth is a testament to the strength of our business model and long-term vision. This success is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team.” Founder of HungryPanda CEO and CEO Eric Liu said in a statement. “HungryPanda is more than just a delivery platform, we see ourselves as ambassadors for Asian cuisine. With this new funding, we will accelerate our expansion into North America, improve our service, and expand our global footprint. We are ready to continue championing the rich food culture of Asia.”
The company describes the capital as “refinancing and financing,” suggesting that some of it is primary and some of it may be secondary and/or debt. We are reaching out to investors and startups for more information and will update as soon as we know more. Mars Growth Capital (a joint venture between Liquidity Group and MUFG) is leading the round, with participation from previous backers Perwyn, Kinnevik, 83North and Felix.
Eric Liu realized he wanted such a service and founded HungryPanda. As a student at the University of Nottingham, he noticed that although there were Chinese restaurants in the city, it was almost impossible for people to order from them. The menu was in English, the translations made little sense, and the dishes were sometimes criminally tailored to suit British palates.
As Mr. Liu previously told us, this was a bigger problem than for other foreign groups. Chinese people like to eat “traditional” food and take eating very seriously.
HungryPanda was his solution. It's a Chinese app that provides students like him with all the information in a format they can actually use. This includes items that would normally only be served as a side menu in Chinese when Chinese customers dine in the restaurant itself.
HungryPanda initially focused on a younger demographic, especially students, which allowed it to avoid some of the difficult unit economics of food delivery platforms. While apps like Deliveroo are built on the idea of making two deliveries per hour per driver and making money every hour, HungryPanda is used by people who order “family style”. , orders double or even triple, making individual deliveries more profitable. It's worth noting that other apps catering to a broader user base have adopted some of these mechanisms over the years.
Even if they don't target every consumer, HungryPanda and its ilk have captured a sizable market. Even before counting other generations of immigrants and people from countries other than China, the first generation of consumers in the Chinese diaspora alone is estimated to now number more than 50 million worldwide.
This has proven to be a winning formula and appears to be delivering significant returns. A number of other apps have emerged targeting Asian consumers, and in some cases entire destinations have been created from a few towns with swarms of consumers chatting about authentic Asian food. Düsseldorf, for example, saw a surge in young Chinese tourists after Chinese users in the city started posting about the food available there on the social media app Xiaohongshu.
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