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Terence Lee · · 2 min readHonestbee raised around $49m since series A, with a Korean chaebol as a major backer
Photo credit: Honestbee
Honestbee, a Singapore-headquartered ecommerce startup, has raised around US$49 million since its series A round in 2015, according to its public filings that Tech in Asia obtained today. One of its biggest shareholder is Yesco, a subsidiary of LS Group, one of South Korea’s chaebols, or family-controlled industrial conglomerates.
LS Group is a diversified company engaging in machinery, electric systems, materials, liquified natural gas, and more. It made US$8.5 billion in revenue in 2017.
While Honestbee started out delivering groceries, it has expanded rapidly into other on-demand services like laundry, food, and tickets. It is available in eight countries in Asia. It is a top 10 food and drink app in five countries on both iOS and Android.
There are two legal entities related to Honestbee in Singapore. “A Honestbee Pte Ltd” has a total paid up capital of US$60.7 million while “Honestbee Pte Ltd” has US$3 million. It raised US$15 million for its series A round.
Another major shareholder in Honestbee is Brian Koo, whose family owns LS Group. Koo is also a founding member of Silicon Valley investment firm Formation 8. Honestbee co-founder and CEO Joel Sng was previously listed as a partner in the firm.
A filing by Yesco (in Korean) confirmed that it invested in A Honestbee. The deal was made around July 2017 and was worth around US$17.8 million.
A Honestbee Pte Ltd’s cap table is as follows:
| Shareholder | Number of shares | Ownership |
| Yesco Co Ltd | 90,953 | 41% |
| Kookmin Bank acting as trustee of WWG Global Private Equity Investment | 64,144 | 29% |
| Brian Koo | 31,875 | 14% |
| Hwaseung Enterprise | 16,036 | 7% |
| Koo Enterprises | 14,432 | 6% |
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One of Honestbee’s biggest shareholders is LS Corp, which made US$8.5 billion in revenue in 2017.
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