Singapore-headquartered tech conglomerate Sea Ltd‘s e-commerce arm Shopee has officially launched food delivery services ShopeeFood in Malaysia.

The service, which will be rolled out in batches, will be made available to over 8 million Malaysians living in the Klang Valley starting Friday (Sept 24) offering access to a variety of eateries from popular joints such as A&W, Burger King, Nando’s, Starbucks and Tealive as well as local street food stalls.

“We are delighted to include food delivery as part of the Shopee experience. Malaysians can now shop for all their essentials online, enjoy entertainment on Shopee Live, play their favorite game on Shopee Prizes, and satisfy their cravings via the app,” Shopee Chief Operating Officer Terence Pang said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This new service will also enable food and beverage merchants to move online and reach out to more customers, driving long-term growth. We hope that our users and merchant partners will enjoy using ShopeeFood. We will continue to improve our platform and services to better serve the needs of everyone,” he added.

In Malaysia, ShopeeFood will be competing with other food delivery players including ride-hailing giant Grab’s GrabFood and German-based Delivery Hero’s subsidiary Foodpanda. Shopee’s expansion into food delivery also came after Malaysia budget airlines AirAsia Group Bhd launched its food delivery services in May 2020.

In August, AirAsia’s logistics arm Teleport has acquired the Malaysian online food delivery platform Delivereat in a deal valued at $9.8 million as it continues to expand its food delivery business.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has boosted demand for food delivery services in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia as people are not allowed to dine-in or encouraged to order takeaway to contain the deadly coronavirus.

AirAsia’s logistics arm Teleport to acquire food delivery platform Delivereat for $9.8M