Daraz, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group and Bangladesh’s largest e-Commerce marketplace, has announced its acquisition of HungryNaki, the country’s leading homegrown food tech company. This marks the first full acquisition of a local Bangladesh startup by a global e-Commerce giant, adding to the overall growth of the Asian startup ecosystem and indicating a shift in confidence towards South Asia, regarding investment and business.

The acquisition was signed with the aim of expanding Daraz’s service offerings across more South Asian markets, while providing HungryNaki with the longstanding expertise and experience in customer service and management that Alibaba Group and Daraz will bring to the table.

HungryNaki will continue functioning as an independent brand under the group, lending its strong client, customer and logistics network while tapping on Daraz’s sophisticated infrastructure countrywide.

“We aspire to be a one-stop solution for all our customers’ needs, and getting into the food delivery business is a natural move. HungryNaki is the pioneer in the food delivery business in Bangladesh with a loyal customer base. We believe, instead of building our own food delivery business from the ground up, acquiring HungryNaki is ideal considering these two factors. We believe, by investing in the infrastructure, technology and human resources, we can take HungryNaki into new heights,” said Syed Mostahidal Hoq, Managing Director of Daraz.

Founded in 2013 by co-founders Ahmad AD, Tausif Ahmad and Sazid Rahman, HungryNaki (to mean ‘Are you hungry?’) is Bangladesh’s first food tech company to introduce on-demand food delivery in under an hour.

“We can definitely say that this is an auspicious moment for all of us because this acquisition by Daraz proves that our e-commerce industry is in an optimistic state. Moreover, this is a positive sign for other local startups, and this kind of acquisition will play a full part in the revival of our economy by expediting positive impacts. We will be working with Daraz to make HungryNaki a formidable player in the market,” shared AD Ahmad, CEO and Co-Founder of HungryNaki.

Since its inception, HungryNaki has served more than 500,000 customers and over 4,000 restaurants across Bangladesh’s five largest cities, including Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Cox’s Bazar and Narayanganj. With an investor pool including notable names such as Robintex Group and Asif Rahman, the initially bootstrapped startup had previously raised a total of $2.3 million in funding, including its pre-Series A round and bridge financing, and has since successfully maintained a consistent 76 percent return user order ratio, which ensures a steady year-on-year growth in revenue of 70-90 percent.

Leveraging its existing and new business and partnership networks, including restaurants, cloud kitchens and home kitchen services, HungryNaki will be working towards expanding its reach to over 100 cities, and becoming a crucial player in developing the hyperlocal delivery scene in South Asia.