HungryPanda Buys EASI as Chinese-Style Delivery Platforms Expand Abroad

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on January 12, 2022.

On January 9, HungryPanda, a Chinese-food delivery platform serving Asia-Pacific markets, announced the acquisition of EASI, a Melbourne-based rival focused on local Chinese consumers in Australia. The deal value was about RMB 230 million. HungryPanda also acquired New Zealand delivery platform BUY@HOME.

The two transactions were positioned as a way to strengthen HungryPanda's local operating capacity and expand its footprint. At the time, Australia had become HungryPanda's largest market, with 3.5 million active users, 60,000 merchants and 40,000 riders.

HungryPanda and EASI

HungryPanda was founded in the UK in 2017 as a Chinese-food delivery platform for overseas Chinese consumers, international students and travelers. Founder and CEO Eric Liu, also known as Liu Kelu, studied computer science and management at the University of Nottingham.

EASI was founded in 2014, earlier than HungryPanda. At the time of the article, it had about 1.5 million users, 20,000 merchant partners and roughly 25,000 riders across 30 cities in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, the US and Canada.

Liu was 27 at the time. His stated starting point was practical: while studying in the UK, he found it difficult to access authentic Chinese food and wanted to use his technical skills to aggregate local Chinese restaurants online.

In interviews, he described the early company as focused less on scale or profitability forecasts and more on building the product and meeting user needs. He also said he hoped HungryPanda could help overseas mainstream investors recognize businesses built by overseas Chinese entrepreneurs.

Consolidation Is Wider Than One Deal

HungryPanda's acquisitions were part of a broader pattern of expansion and consolidation in food delivery.

In November 2021, DoorDash announced that it would acquire delivery platform Wolt in an all-stock transaction valuing Wolt at about USD 8.1 billion. The deal was intended to accelerate DoorDash's international expansion, including into European grocery and retail.

At the time, Wolt had about 4,000 employees and operated in 23 countries. In January 2021, Wolt said it had more than 10 million platform users. After completion, Wolt CEO and founder Miki Kuusi was expected to lead DoorDash International, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of 2022. DoorDash's market capitalization was cited as USD 50.2 billion.

The article also noted Grab's role in Southeast Asia. Grab founder Anthony Tan, born in Malaysia in 1982 with ancestral roots in Anxi, Fujian, is ethnically Chinese. Grab listed in the US in December 2021 and was cited with a market capitalization of USD 23.9 billion.

Grab was described as Southeast Asia's super app, with ride-hailing, food delivery and payments. Based on Euromonitor and company disclosures cited in the article, Grab held a 50% share of food delivery in its operating markets in 2020, ahead of Foodpanda at 20%, with Gojek and Deliveroo also competing.

What Operators Should Watch

The article framed the global delivery map around regional leaders: Meituan in China, Grab in Southeast Asia, DoorDash and Uber Eats in North America, and HungryPanda in Australia, while noting that many other players also exist.

For foodservice operators, the practical message was to understand overseas traffic platforms before entering new markets. Delivery apps, review platforms and shifts in user demand can materially affect international growth, especially when dine-in and cross-border activity recover after pandemic disruption.

The article argued that some overseas delivery models show traces of Chinese-market playbooks: heavy capital investment, advertising spend, acquisition of rivals and attempts to build regional scale. It also compared this broader pattern with other China-originated operating models, such as Luckin Coffee-style formats, noting that similar models had appeared overseas, including Indonesia's KK coffee brand, whose investors included Kunlun Tech.

Note: acquisition values, IPO references, market capitalizations and forward-looking completion timelines are historical figures from the January 12, 2022 source article.