Getir buys Gorillas as delivery apps struggle
GERMAN food delivery startup Gorillas has been gobbled up by Turkish rival Getir as ultra-fast delivery apps struggle post-pandemic.
Gorillas, which was founded in Germany in 2020 by Kağan Sümer, had raised more than $1bn in funding to bring 10-minute food deliveries across Europe.
Dozens of ultra-fast delivery companies popped up in Europe and the US, gorging on venture capital investment and burning through billions of dollars.
Gorillas and its rivals entered into a deep discounting war across markets including in London.
A collapse in venture capital funding amid an economic slowdown put an end to the ultra-fast delivery boom. Many start-ups have since been forced to slash jobs or agreed to buyouts by rivals at cut-price valuations.
Investors in Gorillas, which include Germany’s Delivery Hero and China’s Tencent, are expected to see the value of their investment fall as part of the deal. The Financial Times reported the acquisition valued Gorillas at $1.2bn, less than half its pre- vious $3bn valuation.
The combined company will be valued at around $10bn, a slight cut to Getir’s own most recent valuation. Getir’s backers include US fund Sequoia and Abu Dha- bi’s sovereign wealth fund.
Getir, which means “bring” in Turkish, was founded in 2015 and delivers groceries and convenience shop goods via its app to customers in minutes using couriers on mopeds.
Its purple and yellow-clad riders have appeared across London. It has pulled back on its own aggressive UK expan- sion plans to concentrate on the capital.
Shares at publicly listed food delivery companies have also fallen. Rivals such as Deliveroo have launched their own competing ultrafast grocery services, piling pressure on the upstarts.
Nazim Salur, Getir’s founder, said: “Markets go up and down, but consumers love our service and convenience is here to stay. The super-fast grocery delivery industry will steadily grow for many years to come and Getir will lead this category it created seven years ago.”