Meal deliveries in Vietnamese cities usually take less than half an hour, but grocery deliveries are delayed, sometimes taking two to three hours, he says. rhino founder Trung Thanh Nguyen. By creating a vertically integrated logistics infrastructure centered around “dark stores,” or stores set up only for order fulfillment, Nguyen says Rino can reduce food delivery time to just 10 minutes. The startup, which will launch this month in Ho Chi Minh City, announced today that it has raised a $3 million pre-seed round from Global Founders Capital (GFC), Sequoia Capital India, Venturra Discovery and Saison Capital.
Following a wider public launch in March 2022, Rino (meaning “now”) plans to expand rapidly, first in the most populous areas of Ho Chi Minh City, then in Hanoi.
Prior to starting Rino, Nguyen was co-founder and COO of Baemin Vietnam, one of the largest food delivery apps in the country. Prior to that, he served as head of GrabBike and GrabExpress for Grab Vietnam.
Rino’s grocery delivery app
When asked why he wanted to focus on food deliveries after Baemin, Nguyen told Ploonge that Vietnam’s rapid adoption of food deliveries “has created a clear roadmap for the groceries segment.”
“Four years ago, food delivery in Vietnam was slow. Meals took up to an hour to reach customers, which meant individuals had to get used to planning meals in advance,” he said. “Once platforms reduced to less than 30 minutes, consumer behavior changed rapidly and the industry as a whole had the opportunity to grow more than 10 times in a very short time.”
Nguyen believes that grocery deliveries will follow the same pace. Grocery delivery adoption increased during Vietnam’s COVID-19 lockdowns last year and has become a regular part of consumer shopping habits, he said. “Customers are ready, but existing delivery options, including retail chains or third-party platforms that deliver on behalf of retailers, are too slow or unreliable.”
Rino plans to reduce this time by acquiring its inventory, purchased directly from suppliers, and integrating its own dark stores into its logistics infrastructure. To make deliveries in such a short time, Nguyen said Rino will divide each of his cities into service zones with a radius of one to three kilometers. Each zone will have a dedicated dark shop owned and operated by Rino, with last mile deliveries carried out in batches by its own fleet of passengers.
In a prepared statement on the investment, Saison Capital partner Chris Sirise said: “The fast trade landscape has benefited from permanent gains as consumers across all demographics continue to trust e-commerce options even after lockdowns have taken place. of COVID-19 decrease. What we’ve seen from the founding team leading up to the launch reaffirms what we’ve seen of Trung throughout his time leading the growth of Baemin Vietnam and Grab – high-caliber industry leaders who not only have the insights needed to lead the market, but also the local know-how needed to really meet local needs.”