Berlin-based Rocket Internet’s hunger for India’s online food market seems to be the strongest in Asia, according to the latest report published by the company led by Oliver Samwer.
Rocket, a leader in the online food space with access to 200 cities, serving close to 3.5 million orders on an annual basis, is known to develop start-ups by working as a catalyst. It acquired TastyKhana in India during November 2014 via asset swap. This was followed by a recent acquisition to further consolidate its position in the market. The other major investments by Rocket in the Indian start-up system include Jabong, Printvenue, FabFurnish and OfficeYes. Rocket’s keen interest was further validated when an Indian firm found its place in the list of about 10 acquisitions by Rocket totalling a deal value of $1 billion.
Foodpanda, in which Rocket holds 52 per cent stake, acquired Just Eat India. Rocket Internet had incubated Foodpanda.com in Berlin in May 2012, as a global online food ordering marketplace. It operates across 40 countries and five continents, in partnership with 30,000 restaurants globally.
Foodpanda’s Indian entity, Foodpanda.in, was started in May 2012 and co-founded by Rohit Chadda.
Foodpanda is present in 12 out of 20 largest cities in the world including Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi.
Besides India, it bought companies in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Thailand. These deals could be worth around $500 million. Rocket also increased its stake to 40 per cent in Delivery Hero, which has presence in 24 countries with a leadership position in 19 countries with gross merchandise value worth €656 million.
Thanks to the success of Flipkart and Snapdeal, the online food delivery space is now seen as a major growth avenue for start-ups with multiple new-age companies exploring the sector in India.
For instance, Zomato is looking to roll out its food delivery service in a couple of weeks, while Mumbai-based TinyOwl is already on an expansion mode to roll out its service in top Indian cities with Rs 100 crore in pocket.
Combining all investments in the sector including Foodpanda, Delivery Hero, Talabat, La Nevera Roja, PizzaBo and Yemeksepeti, the Global Online Takeaway Group operates in 71 countries - being No 1 in 58 of them. It works with 142,000 restaurants and processes 84 million orders, according to December 2014 numbers.
While Rocket seems to be firming up investment plans for emerging markets in Asia, it is also looking at Italy and Spain as one of the biggest markets in Europe. In line with its bullish approach, it acquired Spain's second-largest delivery player in Spain - La Nevera Roja. The combined market value of online food delivery in Spain and Italy is estimated at $9 billion.
