Grocery App Dingdong Maicai Nabs USD 700 Mn from Sequoia Capital, Others

This Series D round worth USD 700 million was announced on April 6 on the official WeChat channel of the firm. Investors included DST Global, Coatue, Sequoia Capital, 3W fund and boutique investment bank Cygnus Equity.

According to public information on Chinese app Tianyancha, the fresh grocery app has completed a total of nine rounds of financing to date; the firm has not disclosed the amount raised of any of the previous rounds.

In recent years, Dingdong has been focusing its resources on the construction of supply chain, advertising and front warehouse capacity.

According to the latest official data of the startup, there are more than 10000 SKUs of fresh products on the platform, covering more than 20 countries and regions around the world. The main categories include high-quality vegetables, fruits, seafood and meat, with 350 direct supply houses and more than 600 direct suppliers.  

At present, the service scope of Dingdong Maicai covers 28 cities, including  Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. The company receives more than 850000 orders every day and its monthly revenue has exceeded CNY 1.5 billion.  

Previously, according to the data of the China e-commerce research center, there are about 4000 fresh e-commerce entrants in China, of which only 1% are profitable.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a huge number of consumers to shop for fresh vegetables online from e-tailers such as Dingdong Maicai. However, online grocery shopping is highly competitive, with platforms backed by internet giants Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com.