Flash Coffee, a tech-enabled coffee chain backed by Rocket Internet has raised US$15 million in Series A funding in a round led by White Star Capital, with participation from prominent investors including Delivery Hero-backed DX Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and Conny & Co. The Series A round sets the total capital raised by Flash Coffee to US$20 million. The new funding will be used to expand the brand in ten markets across APAC.

Flash Coffee launched in January 2020, and now operates 50 locations across Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Flash Coffee has enjoyed strong traction in its markets despite the pandemic; with the majority of its stores already achieving profitability and demonstrating the success of its business model.

Currently Flash Coffee is opening three new outlets per week, an already ambitious pace that will be tripled to 10 store launches per week in order to open 300 additional stores across the region by end of this year.

CEO David Brunier and COO & CFO Sebastian Hannecker co-founded the company to make premium coffee accessible to Asia’s rising middle class. Brunier’s experience as foodpanda CMO and Hannecker’s Bain Consulting pedigree have informed Flash Coffee’s disruptive grab-and-go business model, allowing for significant cost savings to be passed on to customers.

“Our dream is to have a Flash Coffee every 500 metres in all major Asian cities”, says Brunier. “Strong investor support for our Series A round enables us to harness untapped potential in the region and replicate our success in seven new markets this year: Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. We will also build a regional HQ in Singapore and expand our regional tech hub in Jakarta to 50 people to support our vision of fully leveraging technology to improve customer experience, proactively drive growth and significantly increase operational efficiency.”

Eric Martineau-Fortin, Founder & Managing Partner at White Star Capital, says, “We are pleased to support Flash Coffee in bringing its experience to millions of consumers across Asia. We believe that the brand’s tech-enabled approach will drive its ability to provide high quality coffee and service at excellent value to address an underserved demand for affordable premium coffee in these rapidly expanding Asian markets.”

The company aims to digitise today’s offline-dominated coffee industry with a newly launched consumer app that boasts a streamlined pick-up feature, sophisticated loyalty programme, personalised promotions and interactive challenges. Its dedicated barista app improves the operational efficiency of its stores and enables performance-based incentives for its baristas, ensuring an unparalleled customer experience.