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Chronicles

The story behind the story

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Chinese grocery delivery firm Missfresh, which had raised $1B+ in VC funding from Tiger, Goldman, others, falls in market cap on Nasdaq from $3B in 2021 to $88M

Chinese grocery delivery group valued at $3bn a year ago is now worth just $88mn  —  Tiger Global-backed grocery delivery start …

Financial Times

Context & Ripple Effects

Missfresh's collapse is the endgame of a funding arc the coverage traces directly: a $450M Series D led by Goldman Sachs and Tencent in 2018, over $1B in total VC backing from Tiger Global and others, then a June 2021 IPO that raised ~$300M and briefly put the company at a $3B valuation on Nasdaq. A year later that valuation is $88M — a near-total write-off for every investor who bought at any point along the way.

First-order effects

  • Tiger Global, Goldman Sachs and Missfresh's other backers are facing near-total losses on positions built across multiple rounds, and the company has since told employees it has run out of money — an insolvency signal, not just a valuation markdown.

Second-order effects

  • Tencent, which backed both Missfresh and rival Xingsheng Youxuan — whose own raises went from ~$300M at a $3B valuation to $100M at $5B within six months — now faces the same unit-economics scrutiny across its entire grocery-delivery portfolio, with capital likely repricing away from subsidized fresh-food delivery.

Third-order effects

  • The pattern extends beyond Missfresh: even the category winner Meituan saw its market cap fall ~60% during 2023 amid rising competition and a food-delivery slowdown, suggesting China's online-grocery sector is consolidating around players who can absorb sustained losses rather than those who can raise for them.

The trend: Venture-subsidized Chinese grocery delivery is repricing from growth-at-all-costs toward survival economics, with public markets forcing the correction private rounds deferred.

Discussion

  • @carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
    From a valuation of $3B to $88M over the past year, after a total of $1.63B in funding. I don't think there's been a category with as terrible ROI as food delivery in recent years. Tiger Global is also going from source of envy to ridicule in record time https://www.ft.com/...
  • @donweinland Don Weinland on x
    You know there's a problem when the tech groups are looking to Shanxi coal miners for rescue capital https://www.ft.com/...
  • @muradahmed Murad Ahmed on x
    More for those watching disasters in Tiger Global's portfolio. MissFresh, Chinese grocery group, is battling for survival. Had been valued at $3bn a year ago. Now? £88m. By @rwmcmorrow in @FT https://www.ft.com/...