AirAsia’s Teleport announced that it is acquiring delivery platform Delivereat for US$9.8 million pushing Teleport’s ambition to deliver door-to-door in under 24 hours across Southeast Asia.
In a statement, Airasia digital’s logistics venture, said it has signed an agreement to acquire the local Malaysian online food delivery platform which will see Delivereat’s founders Leong Shir Mein and Tan Suan Sear joining the management team at Teleport and airasia digital.
The deal values Teleport at US$300 million, it added, and welcomes prominent investors, including venture capital firm Gobi Partners onboard.
Delivereat is a homegrown startup from Penang, Malaysia built from the ground up in 2012. It 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.
Teleport noted that Delivereat covers Penang, and the Klang Valley, leading the food-delivery space with the largest selection of hawkers in Penang with up to 1,000 hawkers, and is the first to allow customers to combine multiple orders within the same delivery.
End-to-end delivery plan
“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. 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,” said Tony Fernandes, chief executive officer of Air Asia Group.
“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,” he added, noting that with the Gobi Partners also joining the firm — “Teleport is well on its way to become the leading logistics player in the region.”
Pete Chareonwongsak, chief executive officer of Teleport said the firm is “all-in when it comes to delivering everything in under 24 hours and from anywhere in our core markets, which is our bet on what the future of e-commerce logistics holds in the region.”
“We are 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,” Chareonwongsak added.
The Teleport CEO noted that the Delivereat acqusition 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.”
Leong Shir Mein and Tan Suan Sear, co-founders of Delivereat commented: “With close to a decade of on-ground experience in the food and on-demand delivery space, we are excited to join forces with Teleport to spur our growth in the rest of the ASEAN region. We are proud to now be a part of another homegrown brand, one that has revolutionised its industry with unprecedented success. Our goal is to use our strong synergy with Teleport from this merger to emulate the same.”
Telepport said subject to final approvals, it expects the transaction to close by Q3 2021.