Rocket Internet-backed Foodpanda raises $100M led by Goldman Sachs

Foodpanda.com, a Rocket Internet-backed global, multi-location online food ordering marketplace (which operates under Hellofood brand in some markets), has raised $100 million funding led by global financial services giant Goldman Sachs, the company said.

Existing investors including Rocket Internet also participated in the latest round.

This round takes the total funding raised by Foodpanda to date to $310 million. Foodpanda will use the funding to expand its last-mile delivery operations and improve customer experience across 40 markets.

The new investment comes barely two months after Rocket Internet led a $110 million funding round in the company. A few unnamed new investors also participated in that round.

"We believe that Foodpanda has a tremendous opportunity to cement its emerging markets leadership position in the coming years. It is our expectation that the company's innovative, value-added offerings will lead Foodpanda to be the winner in online food delivery within the markets in which it operates," said Ian Friedman, vice president at Goldman Sachs Investment Partners.

The company had raised $60 million from a group of investors, including existing investors Falcon Edge Capital and Rocket Internet last August. In February the same year, it had raised $20 million from Phenomen Ventures, a Russia-based venture capital firm, and a group of unnamed investors.

Prior to that, Foodpanda had received $8 million in funding from iMena Holdings, an online consumer business group operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in September 2013. Before that, it had raised over $20 million from a group of investors that included Investment AB Kinnevik, a Sweden-based investment company, and Phenomen Ventures. Existing investor Rocket Internet also invested in the round.

"The emerging markets represent the largest opportunity in online food delivery and we are committed to create the most convenient way for ordering and delivering food," said Ralf Wenzel, co-founder and CEO of Foodpanda.

Founded in April 2012, Foodpanda features location-specific listing of restaurants on its site. Users can check out menus, along with special offers, post that they can order and get food delivered to their homes. One can also search for restaurants according to cuisine, and/or by other parameters such as vegetarian/non- vegetarian, healthy food, etc. According to the company, it has partnered with over 45,000 restaurants in 40 countries globally.

Foodpanda had acquired two key rivals in India over the past few months—Just Eat India and TastyKhana—to cement its position as the top player in the business in the country.

It is now facing a bunch of competitors with restaurant review site Zomato starting online food ordering and new VC-backed startups like TinyOwl among others.

Recently it started its own food logistics business with last mile delivery from restaurants to the consumers who order online through its site. Earlier, Foodpanda was just an online ordering platform.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)