The company sent out email notices last April 19 to customers
In an official notice sent out last Friday, the grocery delivery service honestbee Philippines announced that it will temporarily stop its operation locally, as reported by Yugatech.
The company said that it experiences a funding issue with the headquarters, with the email stated below:
“At honestbee Philippines, we value the relationship we have built with you.
As we work with our HeadQuarters towards bringing the total business to a healthy and sustainable level, we, unfortunately, need to temporarily pause our local operations until further notice.
Thank you for understanding, and we apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused…”
The email was also followed by a message shown on its app showing: No other details of the closure are available as of the moment.
In January, the Singapore-originated delivery and concierge company announced that it will “temporarily pause” the partnership it has with FairPrice with no specifications on the period of time.
However, according to Vulcan Post, the ‘shopper bee,’ honestbee’s concierge shopper said that it will be a permanent arrangement.
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A report by Dongshen News said that honestbee allegedly owes money to its partner vendors in Taiwan and that it has been delaying payments, while another said that it has not received any payment from the firm since January.
honestbee Taiwan responded and emphasised that it doesn’t face any cashflow problems.
Today’s report released by Tech in Asia stated that “multiple sources within the startup” revealed that honestbee has laid off at least 50 to 70 people out of its 1,000-strong staff across several markets last week.
In Thailand, 30 staff were let go, while more than five people were axed in Indonesia following the resignation of several key executives, including co-founder Isaac Tay, Malaysia country managing director Pulkit Manchanda, and Singapore managing director Chris Urban.
honestbee expanded in the Philippines around the first quarter of last year.
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Customers in the Philippines reportedly reached out to honestbee’s social media pages questioning their pending orders with the firm. honestbee has since responded that all credit and debit card payments will be refunded.
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Source: E27