• foodpanda’s new regional headquarters in Singapore houses 1,200 employees across its global tech hub and regional and local operational teams
• The new foodpanda PowerUp! Tech Academy comprises programmes and partnerships to grow the local tech talent pool, upskill riders, and help merchants digitalise across Asia
• With Singapore as its base, foodpanda commits to continued investments to grow Asia’s digital economy, tech community and start-up ecosystem in the years to come
• foodpanda and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to nurture future tech talents in Singapore

 

19 JULY 2022, APAC (SINGAPORE) – foodpanda today marks 10 years of operations in Asia with the official opening of its regional headquarters in Singapore, and the launch of the foodpanda PowerUp! Tech Academy. Officiating the launch is Mr. Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information. foodpanda’s new regional headquarters in Singapore houses 1,200 employees from its regional and local operational teams, plus the company’s global tech hub. 

foodpanda was the first platform to launch a food delivery mobile app in Singapore in 2012. 10 years on, its services and footprint has grown from a small food delivery marketplace to the largest food and grocery delivery platform in Asia (outside of China). foodpanda operates in more than 400 cities across 11 markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Singapore has always been a base and test market for innovation and new product development. Among the features beta-launched in Singapore were foodpanda’s cloud store network pandamart and on-demand retail marketplace foodpanda shops – leading Asia’s push into quick-commerce, or q-commerce, as early as 2019. Singapore was also the first market to roll out proof-of-concept drone deliveries in partnership with ST Engineering, as well as foodpanda’s Logistics-as-a-Service feature, pandago in 2020, offering express doorstep deliveries to customers. 

foodpanda, together with its parent company Delivery Hero’s Delivery Hero Ventures, have also invested more than SG$120 million in Singapore-based regional tech start-ups including Toku, Flash Coffee and Omnistream.

“In the past decade, tech has always been at the core of our business and has been critical to our success and growth. Singapore has proven to be a dynamic hub for foodpanda’s operations in the region, we expect to see more innovations to be launched from Singapore into the regional markets,” said Jakob Angele, CEO of foodpanda. “Initiatives like our foodpanda PowerUp! Tech Academy are essential to our long-term plans, as we nurture more of Asia’s tech talent, build the ecosystem and grow Asia’s digital economy.”

Strengthening Asia’s tech ecosystem with the foodpanda PowerUp! Tech Academy

Enabling the next decade of growth entails building up a strong tech core. Unlike a localised R&D facility, the foodpanda PowerUp! Tech Academy will use Delivery Hero’s global knowledge base in Singapore to power the tech and innovation ecosystem. 

The new foodpanda PowerUp! Tech Academy comprises programmes and partnerships to: 

• Grow the local tech talent pool 

1. • Tech talent at any stage of their career will benefit from multiple training programmes at foodpanda. Young, aspiring talent looking to start their journey in tech can sign up for internship and mentorship programmes, while those looking for a mid-career transition can sign up for upskilling opportunities. 
   • Programmes will be run in partnership with the relevant government authorities and tertiary institutions like Nanyang Technological University (NTU). foodpanda has also signed an MOU with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) that focuses on tech talent development, research and innovation.

• Upskill riders

1. 1. • foodpanda provides riders with opportunities to upskill with free or discounted educational courses in partnership with tertiary institutions. For some courses, riders will also gain certificates upon completion. In a pilot in Singapore last year, more than half of the rider fleet signed up for at least one programme.  
      • In Singapore, foodpanda partners Intellect to provide riders free access to mental wellbeing self-care programmes and virtual coaching sessions

• Help merchants digitalise

1. • Across all 11 markets in Asia, foodpanda runs multiple initiatives to support the digitalisation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which comprises hawkers, street food vendors, neighbourhood mom-and-pop stores and home-based businesses. 
   • Initiatives to digitalise MSMEs include providing digital tools to boost merchant visibility and grow customer base, and training on using these tools.

In 2012, foodpanda was founded to make food delivery convenient and accessible for customers. Today, millions of users – customers, restaurants, merchants and riders – interact with the foodpanda platform daily. As foodpanda continues to be a part of the community’s everyday life, foodpanda recognises its larger responsibility to build an inclusive ecosystem to drive positive change. In 2021 alone, foodpanda dedicated more than SG$50 million to support its community across the Asia region and is dedicated to continued investments in growing Asia’s digital economy in the years to come. 

More pictures can be found here.

Milestones of foodpanda’s 10-year journey in Asia can be found in this fact sheet.