Ebike Deliveries Get Boost in SF, NYC
Fantuan raises $40M, Starship's year in review, regional egrocers stumble
Today’s a day full of good news — big city mayors are making it easier and safer to deliver via ebike, Fantuan just closed a sizable $40M and Starship is closing out 2023 with some impressive growth. Now somebody tell regional grocers to go get their acts in order, it looks like they fumbled the ball on online grocery sales in Q3…
Today:
NYC and SF Mayors Announce New Bike-Based Delivery Initiatives
Vancouver’s Fantuan Raises $40M for Asian Delivery
Chart Time | eGrocery Sales Stumble at Regional Chains
Starship Celebrates Big Accomplishments in 2023
POLICY | SF, NYC Boost Ebike Charging, Deliveries
Key cities on both coasts are working to incentivize the use of ebikes to deliver food, with both SF Mayor Breed and NYC Mayor Adams making important policy announcements. In San Francisco, the city scored a $600k federal Department of Energy Grant, to expand its E-Bike Delivery Pilot program, which had previously secured $2.4M in state funding. The program is giving out ebikes, equipment and delivery gear to lucky city couriers. NYC is rolling out a li-ion battery charging pilot, targeting delivery workers that need a safe place to recharge bike batteries in between runs.
The Big Picture: SF isn’t just giving away the bikes, no strings attached. Couriers need to take part in surveys and data tracking, so the city can understand how the changing modes impacts worker health and safety, as well as environmental impact. Watch SF Environment Department Director Tyrone Jue discuss the program in an earlier Curbivore webinar. NYC’s program is part of its larger “Charge Safe, Ride Safe” plan, and involves charging equipment from Swobbee, Swiftmile, and Popwheels. It taps into existing work to establish deliverista hubs at vacant news stands, and should reduce the risk of battery fires damaging homes and businesses.
3PD | Asian Food Deliverer Fantuan Raises $40M Series C
Vancouver, Canada-based Fantuan has closed a $40 million Series C funding round, as the Asian food-oriented deliverer pushes into new markets. Established in 2014, it now operates in 50+ cities across Canada, the United Staes, Australia and the U.K. Fantuan — also the name of a Chinese rice ball dish — saw the round led by Celtic House Asia, with participation from food supply disruptor GrubMarket, Vision Plus, JSD Capital, and a number of individual investors well known in the Chinese ecommerce space.
The Big Picture: While Fantuan did not disclose its new valuation, raising a decent-sized round in today’s tougher capital environment is no mean feat. The company has specifically stated it hopes to be the “overseas version of Meituan,” and has even poached former executives from that China-based delivery giant. For a company started due to the founder’s inability to get decent Chinese food in Saskatchewan, that would be quite the benchmark!
CHART TIME | Online Orders Fall at Regional Grocers
New data from Brick Meets Click shows regional grocers struggling in Q3, with online order volume falling 16.8% compared to the year prior. With AOV up 4.2%, total dollars transacted only dropped 13.5%. Given that overall egrocery sales held up in the same quarter, this reflects a particular weakness among regional grocers like Weis Markets, WinCo Foods and Stater Bros.
AUTONOMY | Starship’s 2023 in Review
Robotic delivery player Starship released its 2023 “robot wrap up” and it revealed a year of progress for the sector. Starting with some novel stats, in 2023 the company’s bots completed 16,115,708 road crossings; since 2018 it’s driven a cumulative 7,152,888 miles. One eager orderer in Oregon made 382 purchases throughout the year. The company also noted that one bot managed to complete 16 deliveries over 24 hours, with zero human intervention — a new record for L5 autonomy. And here’s a fun one, while kids on U.S. campuses like to order french fries, chicken tenders and breakfast sandwiches (classic;) customers in the company’s home-base of Estonia prefer milk, tomatoes and Coca-Cola Zero (hopefully not all at once.)
The Big Picture: Getting into the brass tax of delivery networks — in Europe, the company launched a partnership with 3PD Bolt and expanded an existing relationship with Finland’s S-Group to seven cities. Overall it launched 45 new store partners and added 10 cities, including Leeds and Wakefield. Stateside, its college campus division added 14 new campuses, serving 1.1 million students. It also greatly expanded on its partnership with Grubhub’s campus division, increasing orders 2,217% YoY (low denominator, eh?)
A Few Good Links
Just Eat Takeaway’s Canada arm SkipTheDishes appoints new CEO. Pizza Hut launches “Reverse Delivery” promo to reward drivers. Cities turn to camera enforcement to keep bus lanes clear. Milano Vice raises €8.3M to expand virtual pizza chain in Germany. TuSimple fails to find buyer of U.S. AV trucking ops, lays off 150. Air New Zealand orders Beta Tech’s battery-powered cargo plane. DOT announces $1.5B in new infrastructure grants. You can now order a single McNugget (in Switzerland.) Walmart premieres shoppable rom-com streaming series. Best Buy prioritizing distro centers over store-based delivery. Volume drops 6% at Port Everglades. McD’s aims for 50k restaurants, 30% of delivery orders via first party app, by 2027. SoCal-based Miso Robotics and Cali Group open autonomous restaurant in Pasadena.
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