Online grocery delivery tech startup Weee! raises a massive $425 million funding led by SoftBank

Weee!, an online grocery delivery tech startup that specializes in Hispanic and Asian foods, has raised $425 million in Series E funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Weee! will use the fresh capital infusion to expand its customer base, offer grocery and food delivery services to new geographies, and develop warehouse automation.

Since its inception seven years ago, Weee! has raised over $800 million in funding from Arena Holdings, Blackstone, DST Global, Goodwater Capital, Greyhound Capital, iFly.vc, Lightspeed Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund II, Tiger Global, VMG, and XVC.

Late last year, the Fremon, California-based unicorn startup acquired Asian-food delivery company RICEPO for an undisclosed sum. Weee! also said that part of the funding will be used to expand its platform offering across new and existing ethnicities, and scale grocery and food delivery services to new geographies providing more customers with access to exciting food at affordable prices.

Founded in 2015, Weee! delivers more than 10,000 locally sourced and hard-to-find goods from around the globe directly to customers. It specializes in Asian and Hispanic grocery items. The company also provides affordable access to groceries for every home in North America while setting a new standard for freshness and value.

By leveraging social e-commerce and proprietary forecasting technology, the company continues to redefine online grocery shopping and food delivery. The company will also advance warehouse automation and AI innovations to further improve its industry-leading customer experience.

“The market for ethnic groceries and food is massively underserved in the U.S., and we believe that Weee! is in a prime position to meet the demands of customers,” said Lydia Jett, Managing Partner at Softbank Investment Advisors, who will join Weee!’s Board of Directors as part of the Series E. “Weee!’s strong execution capabilities and reach across multiple ethnic groups, coupled with a unique customer experience model leveraging AI, has enabled it to scale effectively in a rapidly evolving grocery market. We are delighted to partner with Larry Liu and the team to support their next phase of expansion.”

“We’ve seen tremendous growth in 2021, even though the easing of COVID-19 related pressures, as our customers continue to discover affordable access to a wide array of exciting products and food online. We look forward to building on that momentum as we add depth to our investor base with Softbank’s global e-commerce expertise, and welcome them to the board,” said Larry Liu, founder and CEO of Weee! “Their partnership will further enable Weee! to serve customers in the $360+ billion ethnic groceries and food market.”

Weee! continues to expand its Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indian, and Latin offerings for customers, adding more than 500 new products per week, and plans to expand to other ethnicities in the future. Weee! also partners with more than 1,000 restaurants to offer authentic food-at-home options for customers.