Foodpanda raises $110 million from Rocket Internet, others

Bengaluru/New Delhi: Online food delivery marketplace Foodpanda on Thursday announced raising $110 million in a fresh round of funding.

The latest fund infusion witnessed participation from the existing investor, Rocket Internet AG, and new investors. The company did not disclose the new investors and the amount infused by them.

With this, the total infusion of cash in the company has reached $200 million since its launch in 2012. Foodpanda operates in 40 countries across five continents.

The development comes a day after Rocket Internet announced that India was the priority market in Asia.

Foodpanda, which has been active in tapping the inorganic growth route, said it had planned to invest in products and technology. The company said it had aspired to become the “most convenient and most user-friendly” way of ordering food delivery or takeaways.

“Over the last couple of months, we have become the leading online food delivery marketplace across the most-promising and fastest-growing emerging markets,” said Ralf Wenzel, co-founder and chief executive of Foodpanda Group. “The new funding allows us to focus on user experience and customer service, with the aim of disrupting the way people order food, by establishing a real alternative to pizza flyers and phone calls.”

The company allows users to order food through its mobile app or website. For restaurants, it helps increase delivery sales through online and mobile platforms and provides these technology and analytics. The company has more than 45,000 restaurant partners globally and claims to be a market leader in 32 countries.

“We have seen excellent growth over the past year attracting new users from all corners of the country,” said Rohit Chadda, managing director and co-founder of Foodpanda.in. “This round of funding will allow us to scale up and strengthen the Foodpanda brand, he added.

Foodpanda, in which Rocket Internet holds a 52 per cent stake (recently increased by about two per cent), acquired Just Eat India. This was preceded by an acquisition of Tasty Khana last November.

Rocket Internet had incubated Foodpanda.com in Berlin in May 2012 as a global online food ordering marketplace.

Foodpanda’s Indian entity, Foodpanda.in, was started in May 2012 and co-founded by Rohit Chadda.

Foodpanda is present in 12 out of 20 largest cities in the world, including Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi.

Online food delivery is being seen as a major growth avenue for startups. Zomato is looking to roll out its food delivery service in a couple of weeks while Mumbai-based TinyOwl is rolling out services in Indian cities with Rs 100 crore in pocket.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.