Beijing vegetable selling start-up valued at $2.8bn
A Chinese start-up facilitating the sale of fresh vegetables has raised $450mn in its latest round of funding.
Meicai is a company that enables farmers to sell vegetables to restaurants. The Beijing-based start-up allows restaurant owners to use an app on their smartphone to order specific vegetables directly from farmers, with a main focus on perishable and scarce products such as aubergine (eggplant) and pak choi (bok choy).
The app allows individual orders to be made by connecting the buyer directly with the source.
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The company is seeing the benefits of an increasingly affluent Chinese middle class and an expanding marker for fresh food.
The funding round was led by Tiger Global management and China Media Capital, and according to Bloomberg the start-up is now valued at $2.8bn. Genesis Capital is also said to have been involved in the investment.
The e-vendor was founded in 2014 and its CEO is Lui Chuanjun. The company has said it aims to source vegetables for around 10mn small and medium-sized restaurants in China. At present it serves tens of thousands.
The company is currently at stage E of its funding, according to Crunchbase. It is based in the Haidian area of Beijing.
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