China online grocery retailer Miss Fresh gets $100m Series C
Chinese online grocery retailer Miss Fresh has raised $100 million in a Series C round of funding jointly led by Lenovo Capital and Zheshang Venture Capital.
Existing backers Tencent Holdings, Korea’s KTB Investment Group, Grand Fight Investment and China Growth Capital also participated in the round.
Miss Fresh was founded in November 2014 by two former executives at Joyvio Group, an agribusiness arm of Legend Holdings. Customers use its mobile app to buy products such as fresh fruit and vegetables, snacks, seafood, and dairy goods. The app is supported by a cold-chain logistics system that promises delivery within two hours in 30 Chinese cities. The company claimed to have recorded a 500% year-on-year increase in sales in 2016.
“Miss Fresh’s online retail model has the opportunity to disrupt traditional grocery chains. The company is easier to scale and operates more efficiently than other grocery businesses in general,” Zhiqiang He, CEO at Lenovo Capital, a corporate venture arm of Lenovo Group, told local media. “Lenovo will work closely with Miss Fresh, providing the company with strategic support based on its global resources and market access through different sales channels.”
Miss Fresh secured $5 million in angel funding from GX Capital on inception, and then received an undisclosed Series A round from Tencent and GX in May. It subsequently raised RMB430 million in Series B funding across two tranches: a RMB200 million initial round led by Tencent and an RMB230 million extended round led by domestic investor Yuan Yi Investment.
The company will use the new capital to expand its supply chain and cold-chain logistics system.
Several Chinese online fresh food retailers have won support from strategic and VC investors in recent months. Yiguo, which is backed by KKR and Alibaba Group, raised an extended Series C round led by Suning Commerce Group in November, while seafood importer and online marketplace operator Gfresh pocketed $20 million from Riverhill Fund and Legend Capital.
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