FoodPanda Racks Up Another $20M to Tackle Emerging Markets

Investment just keeps flowing into the online restaurant delivery space. Riding on the coattails of Delivery Hero’s massive $88 million Series E announcement, foodpanda and its affiliate hellofood – which came out of German online startup incubator, Rocket Internet – announced this week that they have raised a $20 million venture round.

The additional investment came from Phenomenon Ventures, and brings the total amount foodpanda has raised to date to $48 million. In May 2013, foodpanda raised $20 million from Phenomen Ventures and Investment AB Kinnevik, and in Sept. 2013 it racked up $8 million from iMENA Holdings.

The Germany-based startup – which expanded over 20 countries last year – plans to use its latest funding to launch in over 40 markets by the end of Q1 2014, reports TechCrunch. The startup will launch in Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Tanzania, and Uganda in the coming weeks. 

Foodpanda hopes to gain an edge over competitors in the space, like Delivery Hero and Just-Eat, by directing its attention towards Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and part of Africa, where launch costs are relatively inexpensive. Expanding in these markets will also give “Rocket Internet a chance to build a massive customer service and logistics network that it can then leverage to grow startups in other verticals,
reports TechCrunch.