Fresh Produce E-Commerce Unicorn MissFresh Raises $450 Million in Series D Funding

MissFresh, a fresh produce e-commerce platform, announced the completion of their Series D fundraising on September 6. The $450 million round is lead by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP) and Tencent Holdings Ltd., followed by Tiger Global Management and four new investors.

MissFresh is an online-to-offline fresh produce platform founded in 2014. It currently operates in 20 cities in China, specializing in one-hour deliveries of all types of produces from fruits and vegetables to dairy and aquatic products.

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According to MissFresh CFO Wang Jun, the funds would be used in the development of the upstream supply chain, the cold chain logistics infrastructure, and smart retail technologies. Xu Zheng, founder and CEO of MissFresh, also said in a statement that the company plans to install 10,000 front-end warehouses in 100 cities around China, providing one-hour deliveries of fresh produce to 100 million families.

Wang attributed the endorsement from global leading strategists and financial investors to the company’s innovative business model that ensures rapid growth, high operational efficiency and advantages from economies of scale.

“MissFresh has a deep understanding of the fresh produce supply chain and retail market,” said Jeffery Li, a partner at Tencent Investment Management. “As a Series A investor in MissFresh, Tencent will continue to work closely with MissFresh to explore and promote creative retailing.”

According to Analysys’ report on China’s fresh produce e-commerce industry in 2018, the compound growth rate of the fresh produce e-commerce market will reach 49 percent in the next three years. It is also stated that its online market penetration rate will continue to rise and is expected to reach 21.7 percent by 2020.

Data from TrustData shows that Miss Fresh has dominated the fresh produce online business for four consecutive quarters, with a market share exceeding 50 percent in the first half of 2018.