Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

HungryPanda

HungryPanda Raises $70M to Provide Food Delivery to Overseas Chinese Customers

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.

HungryPanda Raises $20M for Its Food Delivery Service Geared Towards Chinese Communities

Food delivery service HungryPanda announced today it has raised $20 million in funding. The round was led by 83North and Felix Capital and makes up HungryPanda’s total funding to date.

HungryPanda sets itself somewhat apart from other food delivery services in that it caters specifically to overseas Chinese communities — the millions of ethnic Chinese people living outside China and its territories. The platform is designed for Chinese-language speakers, sells predominantly Chinese restaurant food and groceries, and accepts digital payments from services like WeChat Pay and Alipay. 

The platform, which users can access via the HungryPanda website or app, aims to help Chinese users overcome cultural and language barriers when ordering food. Business owners, particularly Asian restaurants, can also take advantage of the service to reach and provide delivery to a more relevant base of customers.

The service was started in 2017 in the UK, and also operates in cities across Europe, North America, and Australia and New Zealand. According to the press release, HungryPanda is “operating profitably in the UK and New York” and plans to launch in 18 more U.S. cities in 2020.

“The US is strategically important to us and it will be our primary focus in 2020,” said Eric Liu, CEO of HungryPanda. “We bring global experience and expertise in this market, which has already made us the leader in a number of cities in the US, including New York where our order volume is almost four times more than the closest competitor.”

HungryPanda will use the new funds to fuel that expansion, as well as grow its team and technology, the company said in the press release. 

The service joins other food delivery companies already part of 83North’s portfolio, including Just Eat and Wolt. Felix Capital, too, counts other food platforms among its investments, including Deliveroo and Frichti.