Grocery Startups Raise $795 Million in Rapid-Shopping Boom
Grocery-Delivery Startup Flink Raises $240 Million for Expansion
(Bloomberg) --
Grocery-delivery companies Flink and Getir raised $240 million and $555 million respectively in new funding, jointly marking the latest infusion of investors’ cash into the booming sector.
Berlin-based Flink said the money will fuel its expansion and comes alongside a strategic partnership with German supermarket operator REWE Group. It didn’t disclose a valuation; Getir said via email that its own raise valued the Turkish company at $7.56 billion.
“The order growth we have seen over the past weeks has been explosive,” Flink founder Oliver Merkel said in a statement.
Venture capitalists have poured billions of dollars over the past few months into startups that promise rapid delivery of groceries and convenience items. These investors want to take a portion of consumers’ large grocery budgets as the pandemic accelerated a shift toward online ordering.
Competition is also intensifying, with delivery startup Gorillas targeting a new round and large companies such as Delivery Hero SE and Uber Technologies Inc. expanding their grocery-delivery offerings.
Founded in December 2020, Flink says it lets customers order more than 2,400 products, including fresh fruit and vegetables, and have them delivered in under 10 minutes. The company said it operates in 18 cities and reaches more than 3 million customers.
Getir’s new investment brings the total it’s raised this year to almost $1 billion. Nazim Salur, its chief executive officer, told the Financial Times it wanted the money to “go to the U.S. this year rather than later.”
New investors in Flink include Prosus NV, Bond and Mubadala Capital, according to its statement. Flink’s first round in February was led by Cherry Ventures, Northzone and Target Global. DisruptAD, Mubadala Investment Company and Silver Lake joined as Getir’s latest investors.
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