Waysia, an Asian grocery delivery platform recently raised €10m to deliver Asian groceries in Europe.
Recall that the covid-19 pandemic brought about a paradigm shift in our lives and the way of doing things, which gave rise to so many services tailored to these newborn needs.
Waysia delivery did not hesitate to join the rest of the startups that had to reinvent the wheel, in response to the needs of this present period.
The company which was formerly known as Alorsfaim, first began its operation in France, Paris, four years ago as a delivery platform that specialized in the delivery of Asian food to customers.
After the sudden covid-19 pandemic that ravaged nearly the whole world, Waysia users began to panic buy and quickly emptied retailer supplies.
The incongruity between demand and supply promoted the company to open its warehouse and start procuring directly from suppliers, like farms specializing in Asian produce in the Netherlands, France, and Spain.
According to Waysi CEO Yejun Fan, he said; “The pandemic showed that the need for ethnic groceries was really underserved in Europe,”.
It is however interesting to note that not only Waysia, but a handful of startups are already delivering Asian takeout across Europe.
Although, online grocery targeting the demographic is still relatively rare, reckoned the founder, who worked in finance before becoming a serial entrepreneur.
The grocery pivot gave Waysia’s revenues a boost and recently helped it land a series Pre-A round of nearly 10 million euros. The round was led by Banyan Pacific Capital, with iFly.VC, Cathay Innovation, and Goodwater Capital participating.
The most notable investor from Waysia’s new financing round is Datastore, a digital retail fund started by Daphni and Carrefour, and Convivialité Ventures, the venture capital arm of the French wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard, an indication of the French giants’ interest in ethnic minority consumers.
Waysia’s average basket size is as much as over 70 euros, for consumers tend to shop weekly for ethnic food. That means the platform can spend less on deliveries compared to more mainstream services sending small orders more frequently.