Food delivery giant Foodpanda makes ‘significant return’ as it offloads Russian business to Mail.ru for $100 million

Rocket Internet-backed food delivery service Foodpanda announced that it has sold its Russia-based business Delivery Club to Russian internet giant Mail.ru for $100 million.

Founded out of Germany in 2012, Foodpanda is a GrubHub-style food delivery marketplace that lets users order food from myriad eateries on the web and through mobile apps. The company has focused primarily on emerging markets, and it operates under different brands in certain regions, such as going by Hellofood in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Today’s news comes almost three years after Foodpanda first expanded into Russia with a launch under its own branding, but when the Berlin-headquartered company acquired Delivery Club for an undisclosed amount in mid-2014, Delivery Club became the only brand for Foodpanda’s operations in the country. So today’s news effectively means that Foodpanda no longer operates in Russia, which accounted for roughly 10 percent of its global business.

“This transaction is a key milestone for Foodpanda and proves our ability to successfully build and scale market-leading food delivery businesses,” explained Ralf Wenzel, founder and CEO of Foodpanda. “Transitioning our business to Mail.ru, a local internet market leader, allows Foodpanda to focus more on the expansion in the Asian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European markets, solidifying and expanding our leading market positions.”

Since its inception, Foodpanda has raised $318 million, the bulk of which came during a busy two-month period last summer. The company is quick to point out that it has made a “significant return” on its investment in Delivery Club and says the proceeds will be used to expand across its 20 core markets in Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.