CloudEats, a Philippine cloud restaurant company, announced Thursday it has raised $5 million in a significantly oversubscribed Series A round led by Vulpes Investment Management of Singapore and Gobi Partners (Gobi-Core PH Fund), with notable investors including Alibaba-backed BAce Capital, Intera Investments Limited, GMA Ventures, and prominent angel investors.
In line with the round, BAce Capital Founding Partner Benny Chen, who led Ant Financial’s investment into Zomato and Paytm and served on the board of both companies, will join CloudEats’ board of directors.
The company has also established an outstanding international Advisory Board composed of the current and former Chief Executive Officer of Monde Nissin, McDonald’s, and Starbucks in Europe.
Funds raised in this round will be utilized to scale CloudEats’ proprietary smart kitchen technology, open cloud kitchens in more markets across the region, and develop new champion brands like Burger Beast, which has now become one of the top recognized burger brands in the Philippines, CloudEats said in a statement.
“The food delivery market in Southeast Asia continues to experience explosive growth, allowing digitally native brands such as ours to carve their own space and win in the market. We aim to become the largest online food group in the region by building persona-driven, highly innovative cloud restaurants with delicious food that our consumers love and value,” said CloudEats Co-Founder Kimberly Yao.
CloudEats targets to launch two new Southeast Asian markets in the next 12 months.
“We are very excited to launch operations in Vietnam this November, and continue our aggressive expansion in the Philippines,” said CloudEats Co-Founder Iacopo Rovere.
Investment from leading venture capital investors across Asia also confirms the strong regional opportunity for CloudEats.
“The team at CloudEats is one of the strongest founding teams we have seen in Southeast Asia and their unique approach to providing next-generation cloud kitchens is a perfect fit for the young and digital savvy populations of Southeast Asia. We couldn’t be more excited about being part of the CloudEats journey,” said Field Pickering, Head of Venture Investing at Vulpes Investment Management.
“Born and raised in the Philippines, Kimberly has been recognized by the Forbes 100 To Watch and TechNode’s Top 50 Rising Women in Southeast Asia. Now she’s just raised the largest round ever by a Filipina-led startup in the Philippines! Together with co-founder Iacopo, who previously headed Foodpanda Philippines as its Chief Executive Officer, Kimberly leads the CloudEats team, and we’re thrilled to be making history with them,” said Thomas G Tsao, Co-Founder and Founding Partner, Gobi Partners.
CloudEats is a pioneer cloud restaurant company in SouthEast Asia that owns and operates online-only restaurants in its multi-brand cloud kitchens. The company was also recently featured in the inaugural Forbes 100 To Watch list that “spotlights notable small companies and startups on the rise across the Asia-Pacific region.”