USA – Food Rocket, a Palo Alto, CA-based grocery delivery startup, raised $25m in Series A funding.
The round was led by Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., through its Circle K Venture Fund. The company intends to use the funds to expand the service in Chicago and other cities throughout the U.S as well as enhance its AI-enabled software and the team. Led by Vitaly Alexandrov, CEO and founder, Food Rocket provides fast grocery delivery, promising door-to-door delivery within 10-15 minutes of the order’s placement. Its business model is based on AI-enabled technologies to manage warehouse stocks, forecast demand and optimize delivery time by predicting the closest store that offers the fastest delivery time and the lowest costs of putting together and delivering the order. Through the partnership, Food Rocket is working with Circle K to explore ways in which the convenience store chain can extend its brand experience and offerings to customers beyond its physical stores through e-commerce and delivery. Meanwhile, Food Rocket expects to benefit from Circle K’s size and scale, consumer insights, marketing expertise, procurement network and supply chain efficiencies to expand its offerings into categories beyond grocery, improve its purchasing power, reduce costs and grow profitability. The startup has already launched a system that enables forecasting stock levels and employee workloads in its operations. Earlier this year, the startup launched delivery operations in Chicago. The team plans to create more than 2,000 jobs in new areas. Food Rocket continues to be one of the few startups offering full-time employment to all of its riders. This ensures workers a guaranteed income as well as benefits. 27/04/2022
