Goldman Sachs Helps Foodpanda Grab $100M

After securing $110 million in funding in March, Rocket Internet-backed Foodpanda has now gobbled up another $100 million in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs, Foodpanda announced Friday (May 1).

The fast growing food delivery service, which has so far raised more than $310 million in all, has expanded its delivery network to over 60,000 restaurants in 40 countries and has acquired a string of rival companies in countries like Brazil, Russia, Eastern Europe and India, among others.

Foodpanda hopes to bring its service to over 3 billion consumers in emerging markets by utilizing Goldman Sachs’ expertise and experience in online marketplace to further build and support its mobile platform, according to Foodpanda CEO and Co-Founder Ralf Wenzel. “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.”

Foodpanda’s Germany-based parent company Rocket Internet has been expanding its global footprint in food delivery services by acquiring a series of companies.

Last month, for instance, the company acquired Munich-based food delivery startup Volo, which provides delivery service to restaurants that do not deliver themselves in over nine countries including many cities across Germany.

Rocket Internet also acquired a 30-percent stake in Berlin-based food delivery startup Delivery Hero for $568 million. The move further expanded Rocket Internet’s network to 24 countries across Europe and Latin America.

“It’s a perfect complementary fit for our takeaway businesses in other parts of the world,” Rocket’s CEO Oliver Samwer said, according to Bloomberg. “[Food delivery] is the biggest market we can be in. It’s the emerging frontier of eCommerce.”