HungryPanda, the UK-headquartered operator of a food delivery service catering to the Asian diaspora, has raised $130m in a series D round featuring media company Hubert Burda’s corporate venturing arm, Burda Principal Investments.
Perwyn led the round, which included fellow investment firm Kinnevik and venture capital firms Felix Capital, 83North, Piton Capital and Vintage Investment Partners well as debt financing from Kreos Capital.
Founded in 2017, HungryPanda runs an online platform which allows customers in more than 60 cities across four continents to order food for delivery from local Chinese restaurants.
Founder and chief executive Eric Liu told Global Corporate Venturing the company is targeting Chinese-born customers due to the difficulties both they and Chinese restaurants face concerning language barriers on local food delivery platforms that make it tricky to order the correct dish when only the local language name is listed.
“Besides, Chinese are well educated by the Chinese delivery platforms, so when they come to a new place, they tend to find food through their old habits,” Liu added. “Local platforms are usually different, it is very difficult for customers to use them very well.
“In addition, when you search the Chinese restaurants on local platforms, you cannot find which one is an authentic or traditional one based on their rating, because most ratings come from local residents and their tastes are different from Chinese. Because of the culture, we really think it is necessary to target the niche market and provide the authentic and familiar Chinese food to our customers.”
Felix Capital and 83North had co-led a $20m round for HungryPanda in February 2020 and returned nine months later for a $70m series C led by Kinnevik and backed by Burda Principal Investments and Piton Capital.
“Burda is a very trustworthy investment partner for us,” Liu said. “We cannot operate well without their efforts. They bring the company more professional operation insight and a good relationship with media and other investors. They help our company to continue to grow bigger and stronger.”
The series D round follows an expansion of HungryPanda’s offering into grocery delivery as it looks to capitalise on a market which has rapidly grown during the covid-19 pandemic as well as its links to both Asian customers and businesses. The pandemic has however been a mixed bag for the company.
“On the one hand, we lost many potential customers, because many Chinese students chose not to travel abroad,” Liu said. “On the other hand, we improved our relationship with merchants and existing customers and cultivated their habit to order food online, and (it helped) to develop digitalisation for overseas Chinese communities.”
HungryPanda said in a statement it will allocate the funding to investments in business strategy, technology and recruitment. It is also considering strategic acquisitions as a way to expand its existing offering.
Liu told GCV: “We will continue to expand our market to more countries and cities, especially in North America, [and] will reach more tier-2 cities, providing authentic Chinese food and fresh grocery for overseas Chinese and local residents.”
Photo courtesy of HungryPanda Ltd.
