HiteJinro Invests in Food Ingredient Brokerage Platform Startup 'XBAEX'

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] HiteJinro announced on the 15th that it has selected the startup 'XBX,' a platform for comparing and ordering food ingredients, as an investment target and signed an equity investment contract.

HiteJinro cited the following reasons for the investment: ▲ the B2B food ingredient distribution market size of 55 trillion KRW annually ▲ the growth potential of the online food ingredient distribution market ▲ selection for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' 'Baby Unicorn 200 Development Project' ▲ aggressive business model diversification and the growth potential of 'OrderPlus.'

The OrderPlus service operated by XBX is a B2B intermediary platform that connects restaurants and specialized food ingredient distributors. It allows comparison and ordering of approximately 140,000 types of food ingredients and trades with over 3,500 restaurants nationwide. Last year, transaction volume increased by about 154% compared to the previous year, continuing its growth. OrderPlus aims to grow beyond a simple food ingredient intermediary platform into a total care platform for the dining industry, supporting meal kit production services and fintech services such as SLOWPAY.

Huh Jae-kyun, Executive Director of New Business Development at HiteJinro, said, "Synergy effects are expected by leveraging the strengths of both companies based on online and offline platforms," adding, "We plan to continue discovering startups in various fields with growth potential in the market this year as well."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.