Story by
Jon Russell
Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on T Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on Twitter, Angel List, LinkedIn.
Food-related startup funding news continues to come thick and fast in Asia (to the point that I’m toning down the cheesy puns), and one of the most significant deals yet has been unearthed in China. Technode cites local news sites (DoNews) which report that recipe sharing site Douguo‘s previously undisclosed Series B round from August weighs in at $8 million.
The disclosure, made by investor GGV Capital, is indeed a significant one, and it takes Douguo’s total funding close to $10 million. The company raised $1.5 million in June 2011 from gaming giant Shanda Interactive, again reported by Technode, and the fresh injection of capital is testament to its tasty (I couldn’t resist) growth over that period.
In 2011 it had 100,000 original recipes and 100,000 users, and that last number has risen to reach 6 million. These users share 10,000 recipes per month using the Douguo website, and its Android and iOS apps.
That’s not only impressive but it is a rare example of a food/recipe startup actually sharing its raw user numbers.
For reference, other culinary-themed startup deals that we’ve seen in Asia this year have included Singtel’s $9.4 million purchase of Southeast Asia’s HungryGoWhere. Japanese VC CyberAgent has also followed its stomach and invested in two local services with potential: Taiwan’s Douguo-like service iCook.tw, as well as Vietnam-based restaurant booking site Foody.
Over in Japan itself, Snapdish, a social cookbook/photo sharing site, landed funding from Digital Garage, an early investor in Twitter and Path, and a strategic partner to those two, Kiip and others.
Asia’s online food delivery industry is also seeing deals after Singapore’s Dealguru merged with Asia Room Services to become Southeast Asia’s largest order-out service. A clear indication of the potential of that space came in March, when Rocket Internet launched a range of services that included Food Panda, its own delivery service.
Headline image via Lersom Loungpon / Shutterstock
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.
