Delivery Hero has plans to invest in Germany’s Gorillas Technologies, a grocery startup, as part of a $1 billion funding round, according to Bloomberg Thursday (Sept. 23).
The new financing, per unnamed sourced quoted by Bloomberg, will value Gorillas at around $3 billion after the end of the deal. Delivery Hero will invest around $200 million, per the report.
Gorillas sells fresh produce and other items, delivering them from urban fulfillment centers to customers’ doorsteps. The company has been a big fundraiser, drawing in “hundreds of millions” from several investors like Coatue Management, DST Global, Tencent Holdings Ltd., Atlantic Food Labs and Dragoneer Investment Group.
The company’s last funding round had it valued at $1 billion, and in May, with DoorDash negotiating an investment at the time to value it at $2.5 billion — though the latter agreement ended up falling through over disagreements over expansion plans, per Bloomberg.
The company is one of several quick grocery delivery services gaining popularity because of the effects of the pandemic, as people were more incentivized to stay home and rely on novel means of things like getting groceries so as to avoid the coronavirus.
PYMNTS wrote in July that Gorillas had rolled out in late spring in the U.S. in Brooklyn. The PYMNTS report also noted that Gorillas doesn’t utilize gig workers, instead using full-time staff at its warehouses.
Read more: Gorillas Aims To Bring eGrocery Into The Future With Lightning-Fast Delivery
Chief of staff Ashwin Wadekar said it was “a much better experience to have an employee pick avocados for you and hand-deliver it” instead of using a computer algorithm. And PYMNTS noted that the distinction could build trust in the company due to high-deliberation items like produce or meat — which a survey showed are priorities for people. People, the survey said, often choose to shop in-store for meats, fruits and vegetables.
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