E-grocer Weee! raises $425 million in funding round led by SoftBank

(Reuters) - E-grocer Weee! has raised $425 million in a late-stage funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, riding on investor interest in a sector that has been one of the biggest winners of the pandemic.

Greyhound Capital and existing shareholders also took part in the round that took the start-up's total capital raised so far to $800 million, Weee! said in a statement on Monday.

Demand for food and grocery delivery exploded during pandemic-related lockdowns and has stayed strong even after the lifting of restrictions, in a sign that customer habits may have changed permanently.

Seven-year-old Weee! delivers more than 10,000 locally sourced and hard-to-find goods from around the globe directly to customers. It specializes in Asian and Hispanic grocery items.

It plans to use the fresh funds to expand its customer base, offer grocery and food delivery services to new geographies and develop warehouse automation.

The California-based start-up, which counts Blackstone, Lightspeed Ventures and Tiger Global among its investors, in October acquired Asian-food delivery company RICEPO for an undisclosed sum.

(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)

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