Why Rocket Internet’s Foodpanda is a safer bet than Zalora and Lazada

The last time I met Foodpanda Asia CEO Kiren Tanna, fittingly over lunch, the food delivery service hadn’t raised money and kept a lower profile compared to Zalora and Lazada, which combined have raised over USD 100M in funding.

On all counts, Foodpanda has a smaller footprint: It doesn’t hire as much, is a relatively younger business, and probably makes much less in revenue despite having a presence in eight Asian countries.

But to dismiss it as an inconsequential business would be a mistake: It recently raised USD 26M from Rocket Internet regular Kinnevik, Russia’s Phenomen Ventures, as well as Rocket Internet itself.

Foodpanda Singapore then announced a marketing partnership with RedMart.com, an up-and-coming online grocer, while FoodPanda Vietnam revealed that it will be delivering food for some prominent F&B brands, including Subway, NYDC, Gloria Jean’s Coffee, and Breaktalk.

The coordination of these news releases portray Foodpanda as an up-and-comer. While it’s easy to be cynical, that picture may not be too far from the truth. Read more

Rocket Internet’s FoodPanda launches mobile app in 14 countries

FoodPanda, a Rocket Internet online food delivery company, has launched a new mobile app for iOS and Android.

The app allows users to filter restaurants by location and order food using their mobile phones. They can also see details like minimum order required, delivery fee, and delivery time.

It is available for download in 14 countries: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal and Russia. Read more

Is there any method in Rocket Internet’s madness?

Is there any method in Rocket Internet’s madness? A few months ago, I made a point that winter has landed in Southeast Asia with the fast and furious expansion of Rocket Internet from the infamous Samwer brothers. In the process, I also concluded that while they may be bad for innovation but they would demonstrate good examples of execution and speed to the rest of the technology ecosystem within the region. While monitoring their revolving door executives quitting within 3-6 months, employees complaining about their ways and their startups shutting down like Home24 within a short period of time, we are beginning to ask, “Is it really going to work or fall apart?” Read more

Rocket Internet’s Square clone PayLeven buys domain names in Asia; sets up company in S’pore

Asia, watch out. Rocket Internet‘s next clone could be coming your way very soon.

Called PayLeven, the Square clone’s corresponding domain names for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Hong Kong have all been snapped up. The registrant organization for PayLeven.sg and PayLeven.in is “JADE 1360. GMBH”. For Payleven.in, the registrant name is Arnt Jeschke, the CFO and managing director of Rocket Internet.

It’s no secret that the Samwer Brothers are feverishly coming up with a copy of Square, a mobile payment company started by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey. But confusion reigned over what it would be called. Read more

Klik-Eat gets food delivered online in Jakarta, competes head-on with FoodPanda

Online food delivery websites are sprouting in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia’s Klik-Eat.com being one of them. The website has more than 130 restaurants in the country’s capital of Jakarta.

Targeting office workers and apartment residents aged 20-35 years old, the app was developed with the hopes of improving food delivery online by offering more food choices and easing ordering jams in the process.

The website was founded by six individuals: Michael Alvin Saputra, who is responsible for day-to-day operations; Andrew, who deals with the finances; and Willy, who is their developer. Three other founding members act as advisers and angel investors: Angelo, who works in the SEA private equity industry, as well as Arya and Ardi, who have successfully launched a telecommunications tower company previously. Read more

Deal.com.sg starts its own food delivery site, challenges Rocket Internet’s FoodPanda

Just days after the mighty Rocket Internet launched their online food delivery service Food Panda in Southeast Asia, Singapore’s second largest daily deals site Deal.com.sg unveiled their very own competitor today —  DEALivery.sg.

Both websites now join HungryDelivery.com and EatIt.sg in an increasingly competitive food fight — a boon for consumers.

Rocket Internet is a German technology incubator that has been aggressively expanding to Southeast Asia in a variety of online verticals: Fashion store Zalora, Amazon-like website Lazada, and a Pinterest-clone called Pinspire.

Read more

Foodpanda launches online food delivery website in Singapore

SINGAPORE – New local venture foodpanda launches its online food delivery website on Monday, March 26, 2012.

Striving to bring the best food delivery platform to Asia, foodpanda introduces a convenient food ordering service for their customers that provides a great variety of culinary choices online. “Our belief is that ordering food online should be fuss-free, fast and fun”, said Rico Wyder, one of foodpanda’s co-founders. Customers enter their postcode, find their favorite restaurant near them and with just a few effortless clicks, foodpanda helps them to easily order food over the internet.

Consumers spend a large portion of their time online and business owners want to leverage on the increasing influence of social media and online platforms. “We definitely expect an increase in customer numbers from the cooperation with foodpanda”, said Jacky Stevens, restaurant owner of Picotin Bistro. Stevens believes the “online delivery service will be enthusiastically embraced” by their customers as their hectic lives can take the leisure out of dining at restaurant premises. Echoing similar sentiments is E.P. Podisingho, owner of Kraze Burger. “Without a doubt, the exposure from foodpanda’s online ordering website will increase my business revenue,” said Podisingho.

The launch of foodpanda’s online delivery service will include 51 restaurants and firstly focus on customers in the Central Business District area. Customers will soon be spoilt for choices with island-wide coverage and a greater variety of restaurant choices.

Look us up at:

Website: www.foodpanda.sg
Facebook: facebook.com/FoodPanda.sg

About foodpanda:

foodpanda is a start-up company headquartered in Singapore with operations in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. We believe that ordering food online should be easy, fast and definitely fun! We wanted something simpler, so we made it.

For more information please contact:

Eileen Teo
Tel: +65-94560879
Email: e.teo@foodpanda.com

Foodpanda, Rocket Internet’s online food delivery service, debuts in Southeast Asia

Hot on the heels of the launch of Amazon-like website Lazada in Southeast Asia, Rocket Internet has today unveiled another one of its new ventures: An online food delivery service called Foodpanda, which is headquartered in Singapore but also available in Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Read more