TELEPORT, the cargo and logistic arm of AirAsia Group, is expanding its delivery service in ASEAN with the acquisition of 100% stake in Malaysian online food delivery platform Delivereat for US$9.8 million (RM41.52 million).
Teleport, a unit of airasia Digital, said the transaction in both cash and the company’s shares is expected to close by Q3 2021.
The deal with Delivereat has valued Teleport at US$300 million. As part of the agreement Teleport welcomed to the board venture capital firm Gobi Partners, which invested in Delivereat in 2017.
Under the acquisiton, Delivereat’s founders Tan Suan Sear and Leong Shir Mein will be joining the management team at Teleport and airasia digital.
Delivereat, a home-grown startup from Penang, was founded in 2012 by the husband and wife team of Leong and Tan. Built from the ground, it is the first food delivery platform to allow customers to combine multiple orders within the same delivery.
The husband and wife team of Tan Suan Sear (left) and Leong Shir Mein built Delivereat from the ground. (Image credit: AirAsia)
The platform has since grown to deliver more than one million orders to date, and offers food and express delivery services on an on-demand basis from more than 4,000 merchants (consisting of restaurants, wet markets, pharmacies and groceries), carried out by its fleet of up to 4,000 registered delivery partners.
“This acquisition comes at an opportune time as we launched airasia food in Penang in April this year where Delivereat was conceived. With Delivereat joining forces with Teleport we will be able to drive further growth of fast and affordable delivery transportation options within our key markets as e-commerce continues to surge,” said AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes.
“We are truly excited about this partnership as it supports our strategy to continue to serve the underserved and become the best value delivery company in ASEAN, on the ground and in the air,” he added.
“At the same time it strengthens airasia Digital’s plan to cover the end-to-end logistics chain, from first mile to last mile deliveries, providing a complete digital ecosystem.”
Pete Chareonwongsak, chief executive officer of Teleport, said the company is the only last mile delivery provider that owns an airline.
“That’s why we are investing to bring an ecosystem of delivery capabilities together so we can efficiently pair on-demand deliveries with same-day courier arrivals, both domestically and cross borders to support local providers, provide the best value and choice to consumers and create more jobs for our delivery partners in the process.”
He stated the opportunity to grow Teleport’s logistics ecosystem alongside the Delivereat’s team, which has developed an extensive delivery network over the last nine years, “will help Teleport expand as quickly as possible, starting with all major cities in Malaysia, including Penang and Klang Valley and then beyond, across ASEAN.”
Delivereat’s Tan and Leong are confident the joining of forces with Teleport would spur the platform’s growth in the ASEAN region.
Meanwhile, chairman and co-founder of Gobi Partners Thomas G. Tsao, recalled meeting Delivereat’s founders at their favourite noodle shop back in 2016. “They convinced me that a startup from Penang – a local food haven – could take on the international giants and win. Delivereat will now bring their value proposition to an even larger market through this combination with Teleport.”
The addition of Delivereat’s to AirAsia Group’s portfolio will ramp up its presence in the competitive online food delivery space. airasia food is already present in Malaysia and Singapore through the airasia super app. On August 17, airasia Digital announced the rollout of airasia food in Thailand, starting in capital city Bangkok.
