February 27th, 2020
Kuala Lumpur, 27 Feb 2020 – Dahmakan, SouthEast Asia’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer delivery-only food startup, recently closed a US$ 18 million Series B funding round. The company, which is the first Malaysian startup funded by Y Combinator, operates a vertically-integrated food delivery model. The proceeds will be used to continue building their end-to-end operating system which powers the entire value chain from product development to last-mile delivery from a network of “satellite" distribution kitchens.
“Our mission from Day 1 was to build a chef-made, food delivery product that supported the selection and price point for the mass market to use every day. We knew, from our experience launching foodpanda in Hong Kong, that removing high delivery and operating costs, while bringing food closer to the consumer, would be a core part of this mission” said Jonathan Weins, CEO.
The product offering is customer-led, with Dahmakan soft-launching 40+ new recipes monthly from a growing database of 2,000+ tested dishes. Customer feedback, market insights and other data fuel Dahmakan’s product development approach to create a weekly changing menu of customer favourites, best-sellers and Dahmakan-exclusive creations.
Reimagining traditional food delivery meant scrapping the inefficient delivery and operations cost structures that exist in current food delivery aggregator models. Dahmakan does this by controlling the entire value chain from product development to last-mile delivery from “satellite” distribution kitchens. “We combine a small operational footprint across multiple locations to ensure lightning-fast delivery with high levels of automation in back-of-house operations, made possible through our investments in software and industrial design.” says Christian Edelmann, CTO.
Consumers eat at different price points throughout the week, and Dahmakan’s direct-to-consumer approach and hub-and-spoke model allows them to provide the highest value and quality for each price point. “This unique operating system makes our “satellite” distribution kitchens significantly more profitable and easier to operate than most major QSRs and we’re excited to bring this across the region”says Jonathan Weins, CEO.
New institutional investors in this round include Rakuten Capital (investor in on-demand startups Lyft, Go-Jek, Careem and Glovo), Whitestar Capital (Freshly, Dollar Shave Club and Butternut Box), Jafco and Korean Investment Partners. Other investors include Korean food delivery unicorn Woowa Brothers, the former CEO of Nestlé Germany and Compass Group Germany, and follow-on by existing investors, Partech Partners and Y Combinator.
Media Contacts:
Jessica Li (Cofounder & COO)
+6014 327 9972
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER