Tencent, Goldman join $450m round for China’s Miss Fresh
Miss Fresh, a Chinese e-commerce platform specializing in fresh produce, has raised a $450 million round co-led by Tencent Holdings, Goldman Sachs, Jeneration Capital, and US-based Davis Selected Advisers.
Other participants included Poly Capital, Glade Brook Capital, Tiger Global Management, and Huaxing Growth Capital, an investment arm of China Renaissance. The company said it would build 10,000 front-end warehouses in 100 Chinese cities, aiming to provide a one-hour delivery service for 100 million families, without giving a timetable.
“We will choose 3,000 types of fresh products from a global supply chain, as well as increase the proportion of our self-branded products to over 50% on our platform,” Xu Zheng, CEO and founder of Miss Fresh, said in a statement. CFO Wang Jun added that the money raised would be used to develop supply chain and cold chain logistics infrastructure as well as smart retail technology.
The company secured $5 million in angel funding from GX Capital on inception in 2014 and then received a Series A of undisclosed size from Tencent and GX. Between 2015 and 2016, it raised RMB430 million ($63 million) in Series B funding across two tranches. This was followed by a $330 million Series C last year that included contributions from Tiger Global Management, Genesis Capital, Lenovo Capital, and Zheshang Venture Capital.
Miss Fresh was established by two former executives at Joyvio Group, an agribusiness unit of Legend Holdings. It allows consumers to purchase fresh vegetables, seafood, fruit and dairy products online and now delivers fresh food, daily dining and living items to around 20 Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai.
While the company’s main business model revolves around its mobile app, it also has a spin-off, Mr. Fresh, which operates offline and allows shoppers to pay by scanning smartphone codes. The offshoot has attracted $200 million from investors including Genesis and Qiming Venture Partners.
China’s online fresh food sales are expected to reach RMB351 billion in 2019, according to consulting firm Analysys International. Alibaba Group is a prominent investor in the space, having launched Hema Fresh, a 24-hour online and offline fresh food delivery service with more than 40 brick-and-mortar stores. JD.com has also rolled out its own online fresh food channel as well as opening the 7Fresh supermarket in Beijing this year. It plans to add over 1,000 more such outlets in the next few years.
JD.com has also backed imported fruit retailer Fruitday, alongside various VC investors, while KKR and Alibaba are among those that have committed capital to Yiguo.
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