Foodpanda, DeliveryHero, and the Viability of the Food Delivery Business

Late last month, DeliveryHero confirmed to Bloomberg that they’re considering selling part of its Southeast Asian operations, including the Foodpanda brand.

Bloomberg noted that the deal would include the food delivery platform’s operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and the Philippines. However, if the sale were to take place, the remaining Foodpanda markets of Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Pakistan and Taiwan would apparently remain with Delivery Hero for the time being. This comes as Delivery Hero has been focusing on reaching profitability while maintaining growth as investor confidence in the company started to wane after a pandemic-driven boost.

For some context, according to Momentum Works’ Food Delivery Platforms in Southeast Asia 2023 report, whilst Foodpanda was the second largest platform in the region by GMV, in all its four major markets it is trailing behind Grab.

Today on Enterprise Biz Bytes, we’ll try to shed some light into this potential sale, the rationale for it, and the possible implications. We’ll also touch on the viability of food delivery as a standalone business and how Foodpanda is navigating the tougher business environment and reduced workforce.

With that in mind, we’re joined today by Simon Huang, Chief Analyst at Tech In Asia and Jianggan Li, Founder & CEO of MomentumWorks