Add Food Rocket to the growing list of companies offering speedy, on-demand grocery delivery. The startup, which has launched its service in San Francisco, announced today that it has raised $2 million in funding from AltaIR Capital, Baring Vostok fund and AngelsDeck group of business angels.
Food Rocket is similar to other upstart on-demand grocery delivery services like Gorillas and Fridge No More in that it operates small, delivery-only “dark” stores in different neighborhoods. Shoppers use the Food Rocket mobile app to order groceries or ready-to-eat meals, which are delivered within 10 – 15 minutes. Right now, Food Rocket is available from 9 a.m – 9 p.m. in 20 different neighborhoods in San Francisco including SoMa, South Park, Mission Bay, Japantown, Hayes Valley and more. There is no minimum order requirement and no delivery fee.
Dark store-based, on-demand speedy grocery delivery is emerging as one of the big stories of 2021. In Europe especially, a number of such startups have raised hundreds of millions in funding including Getir, Glovo and the aforementioned Gorillas. In the U.S., Gopuff raised $1.5 billion for half hour delivery 24 hours a day, DoorDash is opening its own dark convenience stores and Fridge No More and Gorillas are both now operating in NYC. All of this activity has put time pressure on existing grocery delivery services like Instacart, which launched its own 30 minute delivery service in select cities this week.
For its part, Food Rocket is really looking to take off this year. While it’s starting off in San Francisco, the company plans to open 150 dark stores on the west coast, each capable of servicing at least 25,000 households.
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