Rapid grocery delivery startup Food Rocket raises $25m
15-minute grocery delivery service, Food Rocket, has announced a $25 million Series A investment round.
This will be used to expand its offering in Chicago and other cities throughout the US, as well as reinforce its AI enabled software and enhance the team.
The lead investor is Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT), which has more than 14,000 Circle K and Couche-Tard locations in 26 countries and territories, including 7,000+ in the US.
Through the partnership, Food Rocket is working with Circle K to explore ways in which the convenience store chain can extend its brand experience and offerings to customers beyond its physical stores through e-commerce and delivery.
Meanwhile, Food Rocket expects to benefit from Circle K’s size and scale, consumer insights, marketing expertise, procurement network and supply chain efficiencies to expand its offerings into categories beyond grocery, improve its purchasing power, reduce costs and grow profitability.
"By bringing the retail expertise of our investors, we will be able to significantly improve the unit economics by reducing the purchase costs of goods and marketing costs. In the grocery delivery market, this is a unique opportunity to stand out from competitors,” says Vitaly Alexandrov, CEO and Foundr, Food Rocket.
“Moreover, our AI-based algorithms analyse the users’ purchases to increase the retention of each customer. We continue to build our team internationally by recruiting people from giant companies such as GoPuff and DoorDash.”
ACT’s equity investment in Food Rocket comes through its Circle K Venture Fund, which was established to invest in companies developing transformative solutions that are shaping the future of convenience.
“Food Rocket has an amazing, entrepreneurial team and technology with the potential to disrupt the delivery space,” says Kevin Lewis, Chief Marketing Officer at ACT.
“We are excited to partner with them as we continue to explore and pursue different and innovative new ways to serve our customers and make their lives a little easier every day.”
