Ultrafast Delivery Provider Food Rocket Eyes Expansion After Raising $25M

Food Rocket, built on a promise of 15-minute grocery delivery, announced April 26 a $25 million series A investment round—with convenience-store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. as a lead investor—that will be used to expand its offering in Chicago and other cities throughout the U.S. The funds will also help Food Rocket reinforce its AI-enabled software and build its team internationally "by recruiting people from giant companies such as Gopuff and DoorDash," founder and CEO Vitaly Alexandrov (pictured) said. 

Couche-Tard has more than 14,000 Circle K and Couche-Tard locations in 26 countries and territories, including more than 7,000 in the U.S., and through their partnership, Food Rocket will work with Circle K to 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, according to a release. The company already has a system that enables forecasting stock levels and employee workloads in its operations.

"By bringing the retail expertise of our investors, we will be able to significantly improve the unit economics by reducing the purchase costs of goods and marketing costs. In the grocery delivery market, this is a unique opportunity to stand out from competitors,” Alexandrov said in a release. “Moreover, our AI-based algorithms analyze the users’ purchases to increase the retention of each customer.”

Founded in 2021 in San Francisco and now with service in Chicago, Food Rocket set a goal of opening around 160 dark stores in the Windy City by the end of 2022 and said in February that it plans to invest more than $15 million in its Chicago expansion, including the opening of a Chicago headquarters office. In announcing the latest investment round, Food Rocket, which offers full-time employment to all of its riders, said it plans to create more than 2,000 jobs in new areas. 

Couche-Tard’s equity investment in Food Rocket comes through its Circle K Venture Fund, which was established to invest in companies developing transformative solutions that are shaping the future of convenience.

“Food Rocket has an amazing, entrepreneurial team and technology with the potential to disrupt the delivery space,” said Kevin Lewis, chief marketing officer of Couche-Tard. “We are excited to partner with them as we continue to explore and pursue different and innovative new ways to serve our customers and make their lives a little easier every day.”