Bitter, Startup based on Turkey who has built a $ 7.5 billion business out of the mobile application that allows consumers to buy food and send it in minutes, has planted its business until now organically: targeting the city market throughout Europe (and immediate) Where he disturbs the Cornershop which is well stocked with services that need a little effort and time from average shopper. Now, it changed the strategy with his first acquisition to enter three more countries.
Company acquires blocks, other “instant delivery” groceries based in Barcelona. Financial agreements were not disclosed but of what I understood, the block (previously called Huvi Technologies) was bootstraped, quite new and small (only launched in February 2021), and has shopped itself.
Founded by Verma Verma, Hunab Moreno and Varun Kapoor, active blocks in Spain and Italy, where the biggest market is Madrid, Barcelona and Milan. Portugal is in a pre-bitter roadmap, and it will also be launched soon there. More than 120 employees will join bitterly as part of the agreement.
Bitter has been around since 2015 and profitable in Turkey on a mix of services starting with fast delivery but since it was extended to other categories such as wider wholesale options (GetMore, with longer shipping turnarounds), restaurant delivery (Getirfood), local business shipping ( Getirlocals), and … water delivery (getirwater).
It was given a bitter momentum now used to expand its flagship fast wholesale model to other markets such as England – I saw its mopeds around my neighborhood in London all the time – Dutch, and Paris and Berlin. Hundreds of millions raised this year (Bitter has collected a total of around $ 1 billion now) will also be used to make the company enter the US market, where it will go to the head with a homegrown rival in the same room as Gopuff.
But while it might be one of the earliest and perhaps the best, bitter does not mean the only player of its kind.
The European market with positive flush now with startups that build services around the same basic principles as super fast shipping in various kinds of around 1,500 items – usually much smaller than what you might find in a grocery store (17,000 are normal numbers there ), and closer to what you might get in a small type of small stop market in the entire city center in Europe.
This startup, which includes Fink, Gorilla, Glovo, Zapp, Dija, Cajoo, Weezy and many others collectively collect hundreds of millions of dollars – but still less than $ 2 billion, CEO bitter and co-founder Nazim Salur is estimated to me – for scale their operation.
Taking has been enthusiastic enough, partially driven by pandemic and the fact that many people have lived under orders to stay at home, or just want to stay outside the public places to minimize the spread of Covid-19; But also triggered in part by getting a good attraction with other millennial and young consumers, which is truly brought to use their cellphones for all practical tasks, which are converted into recreational activities when they become an application.
Before Covid, bitterly saw three-fold growth every year, with several years, such as 2017, the company increased fivefold, said channel. “As long as our covid also grows 5x but without it, it will be 4x. It accelerates our growth but Covid is not the main reason for people to use us. This is mainly because we are great comfort. That means we can grow. In Turkey, life returns to normal but every month We still grow. “
However, is that a large enough market for all these players? We have heard at least one that struggles to raise more to compete – capital is key, considering the logistics balance and shipping, dark shop for stock items, have the items themselves for sale, not to mention heavy competition – and looking for buyers as The result.
In that context, it might not be surprising to hear it