Foodpanda buys out Asian competitors with massive expansion

When German startup factory Rocket Internet moves, it moves big. And no less so is Foodpanda proving this with its most recent announcement.

Rocket Internet’s food delivery company Foodpanda (also operating as Hellofood in Africa) has announced the acquisition of seven key competitors in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Thailand.

This increases the fat panda’s presence to a total of 39 countries.

Ralf Wenzel, Co-Founder and CEO of Foodpanda group says that “With the recent acquisitions Foodpanda becomes the market leader across South East Asia. The combined expertise and experience of several great local companies allow us to significantly improve our offering and service to our customers.”

Foodpanda has gobbled up Just Eat India right after it bought TastyKhana early last year, which means that Foodpanda is now available in over 200 cities with partners over 12 000 restaurants.

Food Runner — which operates in Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore — was founded in 2012 as a direct competitor to Foodpanda’s operations in those markets. Now, the food startup sees itself as a “clear market leader” with 1 200 partner restaurants in the region’s biggest cities.

Pakistan’s EatOye has also been acquired, which marks its first foot into the country’s food delivery and ordering scene. EatOye has over 1 000 partner restaurants in a total of 15 cities in Pakistan.

Read more: Rocket Internet’s hungry Foodpanda gobbles up $60-million

By acquiring Koziness, Dial-a-Dinner, Soho Delivery and Ring-a-Dinner, Foodpanda hopes to corner the Hong Kong online food market. The press statement notes that all brands will continue running, giving customers the chance to order their favourite meal from over 500 restaurants.

Finally, Foodpanda has also partnered with Food By Phone in Thailand which has been operating since 1998. The deal means that customers will see over 650 new restaurants to choose from in three of Thailand’s biggest cities.

Weeks after a series of acquisition in Europe, the Foodpanda group now also gained a leading position in South East Asia, next to its other core markets in India, Russia, Brazil and Mexico.

Two years ago Foodpanda raised US$20-million which was followed by another matching round. These two rounds were followed by another nice US$60-million.