HungryPanda, a food delivery service catering to Chinese communities overseas, announced today that it has raised $70 million. The round was led by Kinnevik with participation from 83North, Felix Capital, Piton Capital, and Burda Principle Investment.
The London, U.K.-based company will use the new funds to continue its global expansion, delivering authentic Chinese restaurant food and groceries to Chinese people living abroad. According to today’s press release, HungryPanda’s business is already profitable in the U.K. as well as other major cities, including NYC. The service is currently available in 47 cities across six countries.
The HungryPanda app stands out in the food delivery space because of this specific focus on the millions of Chinese people living in other countries who might encounter cultural and language barriers when trying to order restaurant food or groceries via an app. CEO Eric Liu started the company in 2017 as a direct response to this issue, which he himself experienced firsthand. The goal was — and continues to be — to provide the Chinese diaspora with a food delivery service that can meet their needs not just for food but also for the experience of browsing a menu, choosing a meal, and paying for it.
To that end, the app and website that is entirely in Mandarin and connects people with authentic Chinese restaurants, grocers, and other food outlets. Business owners, too, can use the service to connect with a potentially more relevant base of customers than they might find on, say, DoorDash.
HungryPanda raised $20 million in February of this year. At the time, Liu said that the U.S. was “strategically important” and would be the company’s focus for 2020.
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