Indonesian e-grocery startup HappyFresh raises US$20M Series C
HappyFresh, an online grocery startup headquartered in Jakarta, has closed US$20 million in Series C round of funding, led by South Korean VC firm Mirae Asset-Naver Growth Fund, which is also an investor in e-commerce and fin tech startup Bukalapak.
Other investors of this round include strategic partners such as LINE Ventures, Singha Ventures and Grab Ventures, which reportedly also made an investment in the startup in July 2018, following a partnership.
The fresh investment will be used for both city and country expansion, as well as to invest in technology and further support the team in a number of specialist functions such as data science and omnichannel technology.
“Our primary focus lies on expanding our geo-footprint across the region, investing in the latest technology to drive innovation, and hiring top tier talent to fuel that development. Our commitment towards the region continues to revolve around further developing the retail industry as a whole, drive social impact across the value chain and create entirely new job opportunities to enable the rapidly evolving consumer trends,” Guillem Segarra, CEO of HappyFresh, said.
“Moving forward, we will continue to invest in our technology and our data infrastructure. We believe that one of our advantages in the digital world is the ability to build highly efficient, personalised services and that’s the direction. We have set the foundations to lead in the data revolution as we start designing information-fuelled solutions that gather data from purchases made online and enable us to forecast product demand, offering personalised experience across all digital channels and platforms, efficiently co-ordinating supply and delivery with on demand services – under one hour and moving towards real time/on demand deliveries,” Segarra added
Since its beginning in 2015, HappyFresh claims to have seen exponential growth, especially in 2018, which it says is a reflection of the rapid increase of the demand for the grocery use case. HappyFresh now has its eye on new markets where market dynamics and macro trends are favourable for its value proposition.
In 2016, the company has pulled out of two markets in Asia and also replaced its then CEO Markus Bihler with incumbent Segarra.
In January 2017, the startup secured an undisclosed sum in Series B funding led by Dubai-based PE firm Samena Capital. Previously, it received US$12 million in Series A.