Grocery delivery startup Honestbee is running out of money and trying to sell – TechCrunch
25 April 2019 10:00 PM GMT
Honestbee, the online grocery delivery service in Asia, is nearly out of money and trying to offload its business. The company has held early conversations with a number of suitors in Asia, including ride-hailing giants Grab and Go-Jek, over the potential acquisition of part, or all, of its business, according to two industry sources with [?]
- The company is based in Singapore and operates in eight markets across Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Japan.
- From talking to several former and current staff, TechCrunch has come to learn that Honestbee is laying off employees, it has a range of suppliers who are owed money, it has "paused" its business in the Philippines, it has closed R&D centers in Vietnam and India, it isn't going to make payroll in some markets and a range of executives have quit the firm in recent months.
- One source told TechCrunch that the company doesn't currently have the funds to pay its staff this month.
- Already, the saga has proven to be too much for Honestbee's head of the Philippines - Crystal Gonzalez - who has quit the company, according to a source within Honestbee Philippines.
- Internal numbers for Honestbee in December 2018, seen by TechCrunch, show that it lost nearly $6.5 million, with around $2.5 million in net revenue for the month.
- Brian Koo, whose family controls LG, is listed as a shareholder for both of Honestbee's ventures registered in Singapore.
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