Malaysia’s Food Market Hub scores $8.5m in extended Series A

Malaysian cloud application platform Food Market Hub (FMH) announced that it has raised $8.5 million in its extended Series A+ funding round.

The round, which will finance its further expansion and expedite growth, was led by Southeast Asia-focused venture capital firm AC Ventures Malaysia (backed by Malaysia’s Penjana Kapital fund).

It also saw participation from returning investors Go-Ventures, SIG and 500 Global, new investors East Ventures, Velocity Ventures and Capital Code, as well as other angel investors.

This recent capital injection raises FMH’s total Series A funding to date to $12.5 million.

FMH will use the recent funding to accelerate its expansion plans to Indonesia, penetrate deeper into the Malaysian market, and strengthen its presence in Singapore and Thailand by 2022, according to the announcement.

Anthony See, CEO of Food Market Hub, said despite the COVID-19 pandemic affecting F&B businesses, their platform has helped them grow.

“We have observed significantly increased demand for the solutions we provide as more businesses realize the value of technology in enabling them to achieve greater efficiency – especially in today’s ever-evolving business climate,” See said in a statement.

Ng Yi Chung, Partner at AC Ventures Malaysia, said they invested with FMH after seeing their strong potential to accelerate the transformation of F&B businesses.

Since its establishment in 2017, the FMH platform has also helped F&B businesses minimize wastage while managing food costs and inventory more efficiently through its automated purchasing and inventory-tracking process.

FMH has expanded its offerings after its launching of its payments service in Malaysia.

This year, FMH was one of three winners of the HLB Launchpad 2020 to collaborate with Hong Leong Bank on a pilot project and recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Saladplate, an F&B and hospitality marketplace, to help local businesses digitally source F&B items.

It also partnered with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) in the virtual Go-eCommerce Expo 2021 to encourage local businesses to adopt eCommerce.

The development marks the beginning of a partnership with Southeast Asia’s first Hospitality and Travel tech investor, Velocity Ventures, to deepen FMH’s F&B industry foothold and expand into new markets quickly.