Welcoming Weee! to the PLUS Collective
Although 2020 presented us all with plenty of the unexpected, much of which we would have gladly avoided, last year also enabled us to witness the emergence and acceleration of some beneficial behavioral and structural change in our communities. As it pertains to today’s consumer, we’ve become far more savvy, discerning, and open to online shopping, specifically with regard to food (both online grocery and prepared food delivery). In fact, online grocery sales are expected to reach $250B by 2025, accounting for 21.5% of total U.S. grocery sales. This trend, coupled with the growth of the Asian-American population in the U.S. (the second fastest-growing ethnic group in the country), drove our initial excitement in meeting the stellar team behind Weee!
Weee! is North America’s largest- and most rapidly-growing Asian online grocery retailer, selling exclusively online in 15 cities across the US — from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle out West to New York, Boston and Philadelphia on the East coast, and serving Houston and Chicago in between. Weee!’s founder and CEO — Larry Liu, a Chinese immigrant — identified an opportunity to provide the authentic ingredients that reminded him of home after recognizing that Asian-Americans often lacked reliable access to high-quality Asian products. Retailers that offered fresh, exciting, and differentiated products were few and far between, online or otherwise, so he built Weee! to provide consumers with an affordable, one-stop shopping experience with next-day home delivery options. As a result of the differentiated and ever-evolving product offering, low prices, convenience, community-driven approach, and overall superior customer experience, Weee! has grown dramatically since its launch in 2015, fueled almost entirely by organic, word-of-mouth referrals.
Weee! closed a highly competitive $35 million Series C financing in August of 2020, led by top investment firm DST Global. As an addition to that round, we’re thrilled to have been included on the journey alongside a select group of artists and cultural leaders from the Asian-American community who we believe will create even more value for Weee! as the company continues to scale into new markets and provide deeper product offerings.
Here at PLUS, we’re highly focused on the conscious consumer — those who vote with their dollar by supporting companies built from a place of authenticity, work to build up their communities, and are cognizant of the impact of their buying decisions on the world at large. So when we started digging into Weee!’s best-in-class consumer retention and data-driven approach to merchandising, planning, and warehouse operations, thereby mitigating food waste almost entirely (less than 1% vs. industry average of 10%), we knew we had a winner on our hands.
We’re so grateful to have been introduced to Larry and the team by our friend and fellow investor VMG, and truly cannot wait for all that is to come with this remarkable business. In the meantime, keep an eye out for some exciting updates from our artists/co-investors coming soon about their partnership (and don’t forget to download the Weee! app — there are so many amazing items to discover!).
