Could ShopeeFood beat out Indonesia’s GrabFood and GoFood?

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Hello readers,

Like our copy editor Eileen, I’d never ordered food delivery until the pandemic’s descent last year. As I’m writing this, however, two Shopee packages are en route to my doorstep – so I suppose I’m less of a Luddite than I’d once thought.

In Indonesia, where millions of new users came online last year, Shopee is expanding into new territory: the food delivery space, which is already dominated by Grab’s GrabFood and Gojek’s GoFood.

Today we look at:

• ShopeeFood’s hungry ambitions in Indonesia’s food delivery scene
• Singapore fintech firm Atome Financial’s new acquisition
• Other newsy highlights such as Chinese fresh food chain Qiandama’s possible IPO and an AI-powered speech recognition firm scoring big

PREMIUM SUMMARY

Can ShopeeFood gobble a slice of Indonesia’s food delivery pie?

Ecommerce giant Shopee has quietly launched its food delivery unit ShopeeFood in Indonesia – even as Gojek’s GoFood and Grab’s GrabFood dominate the country’s market share. But can it make headway in the space?

• Growing appetite: Food delivery is hardly new territory for Shopee’s parent company Sea Group, which acquired Vietnam’s Foody Corporation in 2017 for US$64 million. While Sea was EBITDA positive in 2020, mainly thanks to its gaming arm Garena, diversifying its offerings beyond ecommerce and gaming could be a “sensible strategy,” according to a source who closely monitors one of the region’s ride-hailing unicorns.
• Hungry for more: With 69% of Indonesians ordering food delivery at least once a week – and the fact that Shopee has over 40 million monthly active users in the country – the stakes could well lean into the ecommerce platform’s favour.
• Getting a leg up: GoFood and GrabFood have an advantage over Shopee, however – and it’s in logistics. Given that the two tech giants began with ride-hailing services, branching into food delivery was a natural progression after they had built up their logistics fleets. Shopee’s in-house delivery fleet Shopee Xpress remains miles behind from its competitors in this respect – but the company’s financial strength could ultimately put it ahead of its competitors.

Read more: Will ShopeeFood bulldoze its way into Indonesia’s food delivery scene?

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

Atome Financial’s new acquisition

Atome Financial, the parent company of “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) firm Atome, has completed its acquisition of Indonesian financing startup Mega Finadana Finance, although financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

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