German startup delivers fresh groceries in 10 minutes

A German startup has completed a funding round for its “dark stores”, which promise to deliver fresh food in 10 minutes

Spotted: Gorillas, a German grocery delivery startup that specialises in ultra-fast deliveries, has just completed a Series A funding round, raising €36 million. The round was led by hedge fund Coatue and a number of unnamed European investors. This follows an earlier seed round which saw Atlantic Food Labs invest an estimated €1.2 million.

Gorillas was founded this year and with a USP of grocery delivery in an average of just ten minutes. They accomplish this feat using hyper-local fulfilment centres sometimes known as “dark convenience stores”, similar to the dark kitchens which operate as delivery-only restaurants. Gorilla is currently working on building out local delivery-only grocery stores. The company also employs its own riders.

The target market of Gorillas is people who need to top up their weekly shop with fresh groceries and the odd household item, as well as those who forgot to buy a crucial ingredient for a dish they are cooking right then, or who are out of everyday essentials such as milk. Gorillas CEO Kağan Sümer points out that large supermarkets tend to organise their delivery service around the supply chain, rather than the needs of the consumer. In this model, supermarkets focus on goods with a longer shelf life for a weekly shop. 

Gorillas, in comparison, allows people to buy fresh items more frequently.  Sümer explains, “You have penne but no Arrabiata; how do you get that sauce that you need now? So we asked ourselves, what would happen if a company pops up and serves people with what they need when they need it? Our hypothesis was that people would appreciate it and shift their interaction with groceries to more on demand purchases.”

Gorillas is not the only startup eyeing the hyper-local delivery market. At Springwise, we recently covered a two-hour delivery service in New York and a London startup that promises delivery of a limited number of items in 15 minutes. But Philadelphia-based goPuff has a head start in this space. They have already raised €1.11 billion for their concept of 30-minute deliveries, and operate in more than 500 cities across the US.

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