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☆ The rapid grocery app bubble, inflated by the pandemic, is nearing its endgame
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Grocery apps exploded during the pandemic and attained wild, multibillion-dollar valuations. European market leader Getir and smaller rival Flink are both set for big valuation haircuts. That's against a backdrop of grocery startups quitting markets, being acquired, delaying IPO, and going bankrupt. Grocery startups took massive hits as they chased usersWhat happened? Consolidation has come quickly, as smaller startups run into the realities of a low-margin model and find they can't keep up the requisite spend to chase consumers.

☆ Grocery app Getir, once worth $11.8 billion, sees valuation almost halved with new funding, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Getir, one of the biggest remaining grocery apps, has raised $500 million, per sources. But its valuation has been almost halved to around $6.5 billion, from $11.8 billion. Other existing shareholders added another $150 million to $200 million to the round, two further sources said. The deal is a 45% markdown on the $11.8 billion price tag that was placed on Getir during its last fundraise in March 2022. Getir could have been valued even lower but the deal came with a high liquidation preference, the sources added.

☆ UPS and FedEx are clawing back ground from smaller package-delivery firms. Here's how the little guys plan to defend their share.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and the postal service hold 97% of the US package delivery market. Smaller delivery companies were major beneficiaries of the pandemic boom times for e-commerce. "There was a long runway for these delivery companies when FedEx and UPS didn't want your business," said Derek Lossing, an Amazon Logistics alum who now advises investors. Smaller carriers are competing less with UPS and FedEx, and more with each other. UPS and FedEx will still be in the picture, but the smaller players can outperform them in some areas.

☆ Boxed bankruptcy could be blamed on Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, but its problems extend far beyond the bank run
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Lower demand for grocery delivery hurt sales long before the bank's collapse. But since then, the pandemic-fueled demand for grocery delivery has dissipated. Consultancy Brick Meets Click forecasted in January that grocery e-commerce sales will grow at a rate of 12% through 2027. That's a tremendous slowdown from early in the pandemic when e-commerce grocery jumped an average of 300% each month. Other startups in the grocery delivery space have faced issues.

☆ How this 26-year-old went from running bitcoin trading desks in Taco Bells to creating the largest crypto exchange in Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +28 min

Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice just before meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Accra, Ghana. Chris MauriceFrom there, Yellow Card users can send or receive digital cash in eligible markets. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice in Accra, Ghana loading cash onto his Mobile Money account, MoMo. Yellow Card has facilitated $1.75 billion in transactions since launching in 2019 and has about 220 employees – mostly in Africa. A resident checks his phone outside a mobile money kiosk in the Kibera district of Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022.

He's helped design the apps for a host of successful startups, including Gorillas and Arive. He then helped build Zapp, an app for delivery services in the UK, before designing the layout for Gorillas' app. He has since started his own business, Blossom, a design studio for apps, while he's also a designer-in-residence at the Swedish venture-capital firm Creandum, advising startups in the firm's portfolio on app design and recruitment. The company already had a functioning app, but Haas said the company tasked him with "cleaning up" the design. That's why the team also conducted interviews with the brands that sell their items via Arive's app, Haas said.

☆ Getir lays off 100 employees in the latest sign of trouble for the rapid-delivery startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Getir laid off roughly 100 US corporate employees this week, Insider has learned. Getir's US arm has struggled to pay store employees properly and held them to strict time goals. Before the layoffs, Getir's Slack channel for US employees contained roughly 260 corporate employees. In 2022, Insider reported on the conditions that Getir employees faced filling and delivering orders at the company's US stores. Getir also struggled to pay store employees in full and on-time, several told Insider.

☆ Sequoia-backed grocery startup Getir pushes into the US after gobbling up European rival Gorillas in $1.2 billion deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Shona Ghosh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Getir has appointed its first US general manager after its $1.2 billion deal to buy rival Gorillas. The US market is smaller for Getir than the UK but expansion is a priority for 2023, Van Beveren told Insider. Its founder, Nazim Salur, previously told Insider that the firm would look to float in 2023, likely in the US. Retail analysts have previously told Insider the model can be profitable but requires efficiency. Van Beveren noted that Chaaya's appointment was indicative of a successful integration between the two businesses.

☆ Are jerks more likely to get ahead at work?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Even worse, all the cutthroat role models we're surrounded by at work make us hesitant about being nice ourselves. In the social sciences, the technical term for jerks — those who are combative, selfish, and manipulative — is "disagreeable." Call this the jerk way. All in all, being a jerk doesn't help you get ahead — but it also doesn't hurt. Sutton's no-asshole rule has become widely adopted, and businesses like Atlassian have overhauled their performance reviews in part to ensure that "brilliant jerks" can't get ahead.

☆ The VC dream machine pumped out one dumb startup after another. 2023 should put an end to that.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

2023 should curtail the current flow of bad startup ideas. The way it roughly works is to bet millions across lots of startups in the hope one of them blows up and returns that cash. 'Fewer insane ideas'We are no longer in a low-interest-rate market, meaning startup investors who could once rely on generous backers will have to be more cautious about how they spend their money. They do have lots of money, with an estimated $290 billion of capital available to them in October, according to Pitchbook data. But Kniaz senses a shift in motion: "This next year will show which emperor has clothes on or not.

☆ Getir's acquisition of Gorillas is the latest consolidation move for the rapid delivery space. Here's why analysts say ultrafast couldn't hack it in the US.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Alex Bitter | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Fridge No More, Buyk, Jokr, and 1520 have shuttered or withdrawn from the US, while Getir, Gopuff, and Gorillas have cut staff. But analysts told Insider this may have led to blind spots when it came to the American consumer. And an insider told TechCrunch that month that Gorillas' monthly global burn rate was between $50 million and $75 million. YipitData suggests the average order for Getir, Gorillas, Gopuff, and Jokr was $21 to $32 in May. Are you a rapid delivery insider with insight to share?

☆ Southeast Asian venture capital firms expect to be pickier in 2023 than in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Venture capital-backed companies only raised $369 billion for the first three quarters of 2022, according to Crunchbase data. Malte Mueller | Fstop | Getty ImagesVenture capital firms in Southeast Asia will probably be pickier next year, with valuations plunging and economic headwinds slowing growth in 2022. Sequoia Southeast Asia raised a $850 million fund in June, East Ventures raised $550 million in July, and Insignia Ventures Partners raised $516 million in August. Indonesia-based e-grocery company HappyFresh ceased operations in Malaysia after seven years, while Grab discontinued its quick commerce service GrabMart Kilat in Indonesia. "The 15-minute model of quick commerce in Southeast Asia is very difficult because the unit economics are very negative.

☆ Morning Bid: Hunkering down
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Initial market enthusiasm over China's easing of its stringent "zero-COVID" measures has now switched to worries over a wave of infections likely disrupting the economy. European stock markets are set for a weaker start on Monday, dragged by declines in Asian stocks, with the spotlight on a series of central bank meetings even as expectations rise that euro zone inflation is peaking. It's a Super Thursday this week, with the ECB, Bank of England, and the Swiss and Norwegian central banks also expected to jack up borrowing costs. On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen forecast a substantial reduction in U.S. inflation in 2023, barring an unexpected shock. Whether inflation is responding to the most aggressive Fed hiking cycle since the 1980s will be evident in this week's U.S. consumer price index report.

☆ Analysis: European food delivery shapes up with Getir's Gorillas buy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

QUICK COMMERCEThe Gorillas acquisition makes Getir Europe's largest quick commerce company. LESS CAPITAL, FEWER COUPONSMore than a dozen smaller European quick commerce companies failed or were acquired since mid-2021. While profits may still be distant for the privately-held quick commerce companies, Europe's listed meal delivery companies have all set formal targets for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). Shares in the European delivery companies are down around 60% from a year ago, but have traded sideways since June. So to "all the naysayers saying 'quick commerce is over - No.

☆ Rapid-delivery startup Getir buys its rival Gorillas at a big discount as grocery apps continue to eat each other
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Michael Cogley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Grocery-delivery startup Getir has acquired its German rival Gorillas at a hefty discount. Gorillas tried to raise capital to continue to operate on its own but has accepted the deal from Getir. The Berlin-based startup, which slashed jobs earlier this year, was valued at around $3 billion in 2021. Insider first reported last month that Gorillas, only founded in 2020, would likely be sold at a discount. Gorillas was last valued at $3 billion in 2021. Insider has approached Getir and Gorillas for further comment.

☆ Grocery delivery firm Getir acquires embattled rival Gorillas as industry consolidates
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Turkish grocery delivery firm Getir acquired its German rival Gorillas for an undisclosed amount, the company said Friday. "The super fast grocery delivery industry will steadily grow for many years to come and Getir will lead this category it created 7 years ago." Loss-making grocery delivery services are enduring a tough market environment, in which investors are reevaluating positions in companies most exposed to the effects of tighter monetary policy and a rising cost of living. The long-rumored takeover values Gorillas at $1.2 billion and the broader Getir group at $10 billion, according to a report from the Financial Times. In 2021, the company was valued at $3.1 billion in a private financing round led by German food delivery company Delivery Hero .

☆ Food delivery M&A leaves sour taste in the mouth
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Two rapid grocery delivery players are serving up an unappetising deal for their investors. Turkish company Getir, last valued at $11.8 billion in March, is gobbling up its German rival Gorillas. It values the target at $1.2 billion, a 60% cut to its last valuation acquired in last year’s funding round. It’s worst for Gorillas investors like Delivery Hero and Tencent (0700.HK), however. With an upcoming recession, they will have to hope that luxury grocery delivery services still have a future.

☆ Getir buys grocery app rival Gorillas in $1.2 bln deal - FT
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Turkish fast delivery company Getir has closed its acquisition of German rival Gorillas in a deal that values the combined group at $10 billion, the Financial Times reported on Friday. The deal values Gorillas at around $1.2 billion, down from the $3 billion mooted in September last year, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter. Gorillas said in June it expected to be profitable at a group level within 12 months. Getir is also hoping to raise more funding early next year, the report said, adding the Turkish company was also cutting its own valuation by around a quarter. Earlier this year, Getir closed a $768 million funding round led by Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala that valued the company at around $12 billion.

☆ Sequoia-backed grocery startup Getir is close to buying its troubled rival Gorillas in a heavily discounted deal said to be worth less than $1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Shona Ghosh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Grocery-delivery startup Gorillas is set to be acquired by its major rival Getir, sources say. Gorillas' valuation is expected to collapse from $3 billion to less than $1 billion, with layoffs anticipated. Beleaguered grocery delivery startup Gorillas is set to be acquired by Turkish rival Getir in a cash-and-equity deal that is expected to close in the coming weeks and at a substantially lower valuation, Insider understands. Gorillas' investors and shareholders will be paid out in cash while others will be offered preferred stock in Getir, the people said. Most of Gorillas' senior management is expected to stay on with with Getir shares as part of their package.

Progress since has been patchy, with only a few countries instituting more aggressive policies on deforestation and financing. Among the new sources of financing, Germany said it would double its financing for forests to 2 billion euros ($1.97 billion) through 2025. PRIVATE CASH PILES UPPrivate companies announced $3.6 billion in extra money. Other initiatives towards meeting the 2030 forest pledge also announced incremental progress at the opening of COP27. In September, the initiative announced standards that companies should follow to trace commodities and disclose links to deforestation.

☆ As the rapid-delivery segment collapses, Food Rocket is betting on delivering restaurant meals and opening 'dark warehouses' for walk-in customers as a way to survive
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Circle K-backed startup is opening up its dark warehouses to walk-in customers. Food Rocket, backed by the owner of Circle K, offers about 3,000 grocery and convenience-store items. Eventually, he sees Food Rocket delivering more than convenience goods. With "Food Rocket" marquee signs visible to walk-in customers, Alexandrov said the startup won't have to invest in money-losing promotional ads like rivals. Food Rocket plans to launch rapid-delivery services in North Carolina.

☆ Wealthy people are splurging on bucket-list trips, flying to the Arctic Circle for private-chef-catered meals, renting out African safari lodges, and spending $300,000 for a half-hour opera serenade
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Hard-to-access places like the Arctic Circle and Galapagos Islands are bucket-list travel hot spots. These well-off wanderlusters have helped create a travel-industry boom, with pent-up demand pushing bucket-list travel into this year's shoulder seasons. American Express Travel's 2022 Global Travel Trends report, which used polling data collected in early February 2022, confirms the move toward bucket-list travel this year. Quality time with loved ones matters above allBut not all bucket-list travel experiences need to be in far-flung corners of the world. Finnegan said traveling with his family made it a bucket-list trip.

☆ The best wildlife photos of 2022 include a ball of bees, a snake eating a bat, and polar bears raiding an abandoned town
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The London Natural History Museum announced the 2022 winners of its Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. The winning photos include a frenzied ball of bees, a dancing sea star, and the brushy mouth of a whale. The cactus bees, like most other bees, are endangered by habitat loss, pesticides, and the changing climate. The resulting photo, above, won the Grand Title in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London each year. As clouds of sea-star sperm and eggs filled the water, photographer Tony Wu captured this otherwordly invertebrate in the throes of its dance.

☆ Delivery startup Getir in advanced talks to buy Gorillas- Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Turkish fast delivery startup Getir is in advanced talks to buy Berlin-based rival Gorillas Technologies GmbH, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The potential deal would give Getir scale in key European markets including the UK and Germany, the report said. No final decisions have been made, but the proposed deal would be a mix of cash and equity, Bloomberg added. Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG), Alpha Wave Global, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global participated in the funding round. read moreWhen contacted by Reuters, a Getir spokesperson said they could "neither confirm or deny" the Bloomberg report, while Gorillas said it will not provide any comment.

☆ Ultrafast startup FastAF reveals its secret weapon for surviving the rapid delivery shakeout: offering Shopify merchants 2-hour delivery and nationwide shipping
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Nancy Luna | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

DTC delivery startup FastAF offers rapid delivery of Shopify brands. The startup FastAF has discovered a secret weapon in surviving the volatile ultrafast-delivery space: Shopify stores. On Wednesday, FastAF added nationwide shipping, allowing shoppers to bundle items into one delivery in any market in the US. at a higher cost," Hnetinka told Insider this week. "It's really put us in a position of strength compared to the other guys who've got commoditized and undifferentiated products," Hnetinka said.

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