This Chinese company processes 20x orders than Zomato and Swiggy combined! This is the story of Meituan, a Chinese startup launched by Wang Xing in 2010. Before this, Wang Xing also founded Xiaonei, China’s Facebook clone, which he sold for over $2 million in just one year. He used that money to start multiple ventures, one of which was Meituan (meaning beautiful group). Meituan was launched in 2010 as a deal-of-the-day coupon site, and by 2013, it had become the largest company in its sector. But by 2014, this industry was fading, so they decided to PIVOT! In 2015, Meituan merged with Dianping to enter the food delivery market. But it wasn’t easy! They had to fight with Ele.me, Alibaba’s food delivery platform. Both companies spent millions on discounts, but in the end, Meituan eventually won with over 65% market share. Finally, in 2018, they went public, raising $4.2 billion and closing at a $50.9 billion valuation on the first day. In the meantime, they expanded into multiple sectors like grocery delivery, hotel booking, and ride booking (competing with Didi). They have also invested in AI and autonomous delivery and are experimenting with robot waiters and drone delivery. Today, they are a $133 billion listed entity, with $42 billion in revenue, processing over 50 million food orders daily (compared to Zomato’s 1.2 million daily orders).
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