The online grocery leader in Singapore

More: China wants tech giants’ consumer loan data, and WhatsApp and YouTube are nearing half a million users in India [Read from your browser]( Daily Newsletter Hello {NAME} My worst grocery shopping fear is a three-way tie between finding insects hidden within cabbage leaves, discovering that a bottle of soda has already been opened and drank from, and my Kinder Surprise egg turning up empty. While online grocers can’t solve these problems, they can at least save us from the additional disappointment of having wasted our time and energy physically shopping for products that turn out to be unsatisfactory. As online grocers continue to grow, let’s dive into the online supermarket that’s getting the most hype in Singapore today. In this edition, we look at: - How RedMart [is dominating the online grocery space]( in Singapore - Grab contributing half of Southeast Asia’s food delivery GMV - Other newsy highlights such as China demanding for tech giants’ consumer loan data, and WhatsApp and YouTube nearing half a million users in India  ---------------------------------------------------------------  PREMIUM SUMMARY  “Cashier me if you can” RedMart, Singapore’s leading online supermarket, is on the up and up. Ever since it was acquired by ecommerce giant Lazada, it has been seeing improved income growth and better margins. - History: Founded in August 2011, RedMart is one of the first online supermarkets in the region. The company was acquired by Lazada in 2016, and the grocery platform was merged with Lazada’s ecommerce app at the beginning of 2019, which boosted RedMart’s revenue by 44%. - Then the pandemic hit: Covid-19’s impact on RedMart’s business was immediate. Not only did the company see a 50% increase in sales at its peak last year compared to its pre-pandemic levels, the baseline in its daily sales has also grown. - Not profitable yet: Online grocers in Southeast Asia are booming, thanks to the pandemic. But most are still struggling with profitability, and RedMart is not an exception. The company’s operating loss has continued to widen, growing by 25% in 2019. Read the full story with charts: [RedMart saw 3x income growth and better margins since Lazada buyout]( (Psst, you can read this article plus get full access to other premium content, including podcast episodes, workshops, educational videos, and the company database when you start your [30-day trial subscription]( for just US$1 today.)  ---------------------------------------------------------------  STARTUP SPOTLIGHT  Grabbing a slice of the pie Nearly half of Southeast Asia’s food delivery gross merchandise value last year was [contributed by ride-hailing giant Grab]( which hit US$5.9 billion. This puts the company ahead of food delivery service Foodpanda, which has a GMV of over US$2.5 billion, and Gojek at US$2 billion. - 183% surge: The food delivery industry in Southeast Asia is booming. Its GMV grew by 183% from the previous year to reach US$11.9 billion in 2020. - The countries with the most active foodies: Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore were ranked as the largest food delivery markets among the six researched countries in the region, ahead of Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The top three contributed US$3.7 billion, US$2.8 billion, and US$2.4 billion respectively to the GMV in 2020.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  IN PARTNERSHIP WITH The platform that gives you information on investors You had an idea, you’ve launched your startup, and now you need to raise funding to scale your company. But finding funding is easier said than done. Not everyone has the kind of connections that could easily lead them to a meeting with an investor. Most founders struggle with finding the right venture firms and the right person to reach out to. 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The coupon is valid until the end of February so check it out today!  ---------------------------------------------------------------  QUICK BYTES  1️⃣ Gimme your data Chinese regulators are reportedly [planning to push]( tech giants, including Ant Group, Tencent, and JD.com, to share consumer loan data in order to prevent excess borrowing and fraud. This development comes as China increases scrutiny of technology companies that are mostly in the financial sector.  2️⃣ JD Digits no more Amid China’s big tech crackdown, JD.com’s finance arm JD Digits, which had been known as JD Finance until September 2018, will be [restructured]( and combined with JD.com’s artificial intelligence and cloud businesses to form JD Technology.  3️⃣ Bye, 38 million Uber shares Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has [sold over US$2 billion shares]( in US ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies via a wholly owned affiliate. After the transaction, Softbank still retains 184.2 million shares, worth about US$10 billion at current prices.  4️⃣ Almost half a million users in India Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp and Google’s YouTube are going [head to head]( in a battle to attract users in India, a country with nearly 1.4 billion people. Though YouTube has grown quickly from having about 260 million users in mid-2019 to 452 million users today, WhatsApp still maintains a lead in the South Asian country with its 459 million active users.  5️⃣ Indonesian financial management app gets funding Indonesia’s BukuKas has [raised US$10 million]( in a round led by Sequoia Capital India. Launched in late 2019, BukuKas helps small businesses manage their financial flows more easily through its digital bookkeeping services. With its app, clients can monitor sales, profits, and credit, as well as send payment reminder messages through WhatsApp.  6️⃣ More money for this Singapore foodtech startup Advantir Innovations closed a [seven-figure seed round]( led by Raging Bull Investments. Founded in 2018, Advantir created Swirl.Go, a capsule dessert machine that offers four types of soft-serve products – ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and frozen yogurt – in over 100 flavors.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING - What founders need to know about exit strategies on Monday, January 18 When should founders get ready for exits? To explore the subject, we are holding a master class on preparing an exit strategy with Mark Strecker, partner at Sansa Advisors. He will delve into how a startup can prep for an exit, how to understand the different exit paths, and how mergers and acquisitions actually work. [Join us here]( at no extra cost if you’re a Premium or Live subscriber. - Switched on: a global view of the technology industry on Wednesday, January 20 Join YouGov next Wednesday at 15:00 SGT for a free webinar on the global technology industry. Learn the latest insights from [YouGov’s white paper First in Line: Early Technology Adopters Around the Globe]( including purchase triggers and barriers to purchase across tech markets, the most successful tech products and brands of 2020, and many more. [Register now to secure your slot.](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  WHO'S HIRING - [Data Scientist]( at SayurBox (Jakarta, Indonesia) - [Lead Engineer]( at TADA (Jakarta, Indonesia) - [Graphic Designer]( at Deliveree Indonesia (Jakarta, Indonesia)  ---------------------------------------------------------------  SHARE WITH YOUR FRIEND Don’t leave your co-workers behind! Share this with them so they can keep up with what’s going on in the region’s tech scene. Feel free to [drop us some feedback]( if our newsletter today got you feeling smarter (or if it didn’t).  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Thanks for reading! Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good kopi (or tea). [ADVERTISE]( | [PREMIUM]( | [JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Was this forwarded to you? You can read this everyday when you sign up [here](. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Today’s edition is written by Betty Chum, with contributions from Nicole Jao and Deepti Sri. It’s edited by September Grace Mahino. Copyright © 2021 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 51 Bras Basah Rd, #05-5061, Singapore 189554