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Online grocery service Honestbee has regional ambitions, raises US$15 million

By Koh Wanzi - on 21 Oct 2015, 9:44am

Online grocery service Honestbee has regional ambitions, raises US$15 million

Image Source: Honestbee

Honestbee, a Singapore-based online grocery concierge and delivery service, has quite an ambitious agenda. First launched in late July, it announced a partnership with NTUC Fairprice in September, and has now set its sights on expanding beyond our shores. Today, it said that it had raised a total of US$15 million in first round funding, which would help fund its expansion plans in Asia.

For a three-month old service, we’d say that’s pretty impressive. Led by venture capital firm Formation 8, this round of funding included names like Pejman Mar Ventures, an early investor in Dropbox, and Gideon Yu, who is a former CFO of Facebook and YouTube.

Honestbee has had to expand its team to keep pace with its growth. In just eight months, it is now serviced by an almost 100-strong team.

Its Asia expansion plans are also well under way. Last Friday, Honestbee launched the first on-demand grocery delivery service in Hong Kong. Customers there will now be able to enjoy hand-picked items from trained concierge shoppers within the next hour, much like shoppers here.

But as it’s still a new service, Honestbee will limit its initial delivery area to just the Central and Mid-Levels in order to maintain quality and service. Hong Kong partners include stores like Anything But Salads, Liquor & Liqueur, and Gateway Supermarket.

Honestbee has plans to announce new partners and expanded operations in Hong Kong over the next year. In addition, it says that it is on track to be in six other Tier 1 cities by June 2016.

Source: Honestbee

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