Weee Raises $425M in Series E Financing

Freemont, Calif.-based Weee, which has bolstered its executive team within the past 30 days, announced Feb. 28 that is has secured $425 million in Series E financing that it will use to expand its offerings across new and existing ethnicities and scale grocery and food delivery services to new geographies, the ethnic e-grocer said in a release.

Additionally, Weee plans to advance warehouse automation and AI innovations to further improve its customer experience. 

“The market for ethnic groceries and food is massively underserved in the U.S. and we believe that Weee is in a prime position to meet the demands of customers,” said Lydia Jett, managing partner with Softbank Investment Advisors, who will join Weee’s board of directors as part of the Series E financing. Softbank Vision Fund 2 led the Series E financing, and Greyhound Capital also participated in the round alongside the company’s existing investors.

Weee continues to expand its Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indian and Latin offerings for customers, adding more than 500 new products per week, it said, with plans to expand to other ethnicities in the future. Weee also partners with more than 1,000 restaurants to offer authentic food-at-home options for customers.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth in 2021—even through the easing of COVID-19 related pressures—as our customers continue to discover affordable access to a wide array of exciting products and food online. We look forward to build on that momentum as we add depth to our investor base with Softbank's global e-commerce expertise, and welcome them to the board,” said Larry Liu, founder and CEO of Weee.

Since its inception, Weee—whose mission is to provide more customers with access to exciting food at affordable prices—has received more than $800 million in funding from Arena Holdings, Blackstone, DST Global, Goodwater Capital, Greyhound Capital, iFly.vc, Lightspeed Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tiger Global, VMG and XVC.

Earlier this month, the e-grocer hired Rudy Darmawan, formerly of Amazon, to be its SVP of engineering, and it named filmmaker Jon Chu chief creative officer. Chu is know for being the director of "Crazy Rich Asians" as well as the film adaptation of "In the Heights." Weee also added former Ahold USA CEO James McCann and Chief Product Officer of Goodwater Capital Vivek Subramanian to its board.

"Weee's recent appointments bring a depth of experience in grocery, retail and e-commerce to our leadership bench and our board of directors," Liu said. "We are at a pivotal moment in the transformation of how ethnic consumers purchase food, celebrate traditions and experience culture. Weee is leading that transformation, and I'm thrilled to see what these leaders will bring as we continue to innovate, grow and scale."