This Delivery Upstart Just Raised $55 Million for Global Expansion
3PDs win NYC data suit, Gopuff adds shoppable ads, grocery customer income data
We couldn’t let you go a whole month without some Modern Delivery! Your favorite industry update is back in action, as we’ve got huge news on the fundraising, policy, consumer demographics and adtech fronts. This will be your one edition for the whole week, while we’ll be back to our full publishing pace next week.
If you need even more delivery action, join us in-person on October 17th for our Mobility & Delivery Tech Happy Hour as part of LA Tech Week.
Today:
HungryPanda Raises $55M
3PDs Win NYC Data Sharing Suit
Chart Time | Target eGrocery Customers Wealthiest
Gopuff Debuts Shoppable Ad Formats
3PD | HungryPanda Raises $55 Million to Go Global
HungryPanda, a 3PD centered around Asian cuisine, has just raised a $55 million Series E, at an approximately $500M post-money valuation. The round was led by Mars Growth Capital, with participation from HungryPanda's existing investors, including Perwyn, Kinnevik, 83North, and Felix. Since its founding in 2017, the company has raised over $275 million. Based out of London, HungryPanda now serves 6 million users across 10 countries, and will use this fresh financing to accelerate its international expansion, while maintaining profitability in its existing markets.
The Big Picture: HungryPanda goes head to head with other specialty deliverers like Vancouver-based Fantuan, and has reached scale by gobbling up regional players like EASI and BUY@HOME. With interest rates falling, money looks to be pumping back into the 3PD space, with German quick-commerce player Flink also raising $150 million, and both Columbia’s Rappi and Delivery Hero’s Middle Eastern unit eyeing IPOs.
POLICY | 3PDs Don’t Need to Share Customer Data in NYC
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York delivered some happy news to Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash, ruling that New York City’s law that required the 3PDs to share customer contact info with restaurants was unconstitutional. The law, passed in 2021, required delivery apps to provide merchants with customers' names, addresses, emails and phone numbers, was found to violate the companies’ First Amendment rights by regulating their commercial speech. The Judge noted that the city hadn’t demonstrated it had a substantial interest in helping restos collect customer data, and would be better served by using incentives, as opposed to mandates, to achieve that goal.
The Big Picture: Enforcement of the law has been suspended since October 2021; meanwhile other jurisdictions have come up with different approaches to data sharing: Florida has a compromise law whereby restaurants must be able to contact customers during the preparation of orders, during delivery and for up to two hours after pickup. While last week’s ruling was a win for the 3PDs, another lawsuit in the Big Apple went in the opposite direction… Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub were rejected in their bid to stop enforcement of NYC’s new minimum wage for delivery workers, while smaller player Relay did receive temporary relief from the new requirements. Meanwhile, the larger lawsuit itself continues to wend its way through the courts.
CHART TIME | Target Grabs Wealthiest Online Grocery Customers
New data from Brick Meets Click looks at the demographics of online grocery orderers. While it’s no shock that Walmart customers skew lowest income, one might not expect Target’s audience to actually out-earn supermarket shoppers. Average order value for affluent shoppers surged more than 40% YoY to $119, while the AOV for lowest income users shrank almost 6% to $84.
ADS | Gopuff Intros Shoppable Ad Units
The 3PD adtech wars continue to heat up, with Gopuff debuting a new advertising format that lets audiences add products to their shopping carts by clicking directly on an ad running on any website or app. Powered by AdApated, the interaction all happens in the ad unit, meaning customer don’t need to leave their current page or log into their Gopuff account. Gopuff also rolled out new branded shops for advertisers, as well as enhanced analytics for customer sampling campaigns; the company has been on a roll since taking its advertising platform in-house back in July.
The Big Picture: Shoppable ads have emerged as a hot format for both the 3PDs and CPGs. Instacart debuted its own offering back in 2022, while Amazon’s own version even integrates into its TV programming. Tech provider AdAdated also works with a variety of regional grocers thanks to its integration with eGrowcery.
A Few Good Links
Mubadala takes control of Getir. Whizz takes courier-focused e-bike rentals to Philly. A snapshot of local pay and benefit laws for gig workers. Yelp sues Google for antitrust violations. Cargo ebikes take off in London. Might meal kit delivery lead to a lower carbon footprint? Uber launches safari rentals (who did that terrible Photoshop job?) DoorDash shows SNAP users prefer delivery. Instacart to power Thrive Market’s retail media network. Grubhub shares transparency commitment. And so does iFood. iFood also claims its activities correspond to .55% of Brazilian GDP. Sweetgreen opens first N. Carolina restaurant. (Hope those bowls are flood-proof…) Grocers give back to storm victims. Restaurant comp sales up in September. Sodexo eyes Aramark. FedEx takes fdx access nationwide. Port strike looms. Domino’s launches half off sale for National Pizza Month. After 57 years, Hyundai hits 100M in annual vehicle production. CA advances AV trucking proposals, Teamsters not pleased. DHL raises prices 5.9%. Uber Eats scares up partnership with Spirit Halloween. Deliveroo teams up with gifter Not On The High Street. Delivery Hero GMV up 7% in Q2. EV charging satisfaction rises. Mubea and Delivery Mates’ pedelecs beat vans. Intouch Insight claims DoorDash has top performance. J.B. Hunt orders 20 Nikolas. Gopuff adds recipes. Wolt pushes battery swaps. Yelp turns 20. Women only account for 19% of U.K. logistics workers, Zedify aims to improve that balance.
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