Grocery delivery platform raises US$500m

CHINA’S leading online grocery delivery platform, Dada-JD Daojia, yesterday announced the completion of its latest round of financing, raising a total of US$500 million from Wal-Mart and JD.com as Internet companies step up efforts to connect with offline retail outlets.

“Dada-JD Daojia will deepen our partnership with leading retail partners and improve supply chain efficiency through technology upgrades following this new financing,” Dada-JD Daojia founder and CEO Philip Kuai said. “We will continue improving the user experience as we work to fulfil all the ondemand shopping needs of our customers.”

Currently it connects with 100,000 retail stores and it provides one-hour delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables, groceries, flowers, baked goods and pharmaceutical products to users in more than 40 cities.

Wal-Mart said it will invest a further US$320 million in DadaJD Daojia, which is an extension of a US$50 million investment made in October 2016. Wal-Mart will raise its stake to 10 percent and will also hold a seat on the board.

Dada-JD Daojia’s partnership with Wal-Mart dates back to December 2016, when the two companies agreed to explore strategic opportunities in omnichannel e-commerce.

Over the past two years, WalMart has made a remarkable breakthrough in online sales with JD Daojia. About 200 Wal-Mart stores in 30 cities are connected with JD Daojia’s delivery network.

China’s largest e-commerce group, Alibaba, is also stepping up efforts in the online-to-offline delivery realm.