JD.com, Macquarie commit $50m to China food-ordering site Daojia
Chinese food-ordering platform Daojia has completed a Series D round of funding worth $50 million, led by domestic online retailer JD.com and Macquarie Capital.
JD also led a Series C round of undisclosed size in September 2013, alongside existing backer Morningside Technologies. Morningside was the first investor in Beijing Shishang Renjia Networks Technology - owner and operator of Daojia - in 2010. It also participated in the Series B round a year later with Northern Light Venture Capital and CDH Investments.
Established in April 2010, Daojia offers online food delivery services targeting the middle-class urban population. Customers can order meals from a wide variety of local restaurants through the website, mobile apps or call center, which are then delivered by Daojia's self-operated delivery team. Like most food delivery sites, the company makes money by taking a commission on each transaction.
The company currently covers eight cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. It claims to have nearly one million users, more than 3,000 restaurant partners, and 1,000 delivery staff nationwide. Daojia's partners include South Beauty, Tous Les Jours and Haagen-Dazs.
Hao Sun, founder and CEO of Daojia, said the company will use the new capital to invest in and upgrade its core restaurant delivery services. The company is also in the process of strengthening its technology infrastructure with a view to expanding its footprint to cover 20-30 cities by next year.
"We believe that online-to-offline (O2O) has excellent potential to become the future of e-commerce, and we are delighted to expand our investment in Daojia, which is a clear leader in the rapidly growing restaurant delivery services sector," said Bin Chang, vice president of corporate development at JD.
Citing data from iResearch, Daojia has previously said that by 2015 food will represent one of the largest vertical segments of China's O20 market. This market is expected to exceed RMB270 billion ($44 billion) with 300 million customers.
In April, Trustbridge Partners committed an undisclosed sum in follow-on funding to food-ordering platform Meican in the second tranche of a Series B round of funding. The first tranche saw Nokia Growth Partners and KPCB China invest $10 million. Other providers to receive VC backing include, Etaoshi, Ele.me and Jinshisong, which are supported by Highland Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital and Zhenfund, respectively.
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