On demand grocery delivery startup Zapp raises $200 million
Rapid grocery delivery startup Zapp has raised $200 million in a Series B round of funding co-led by Lightspeed, 468 Capital, and BroadLight Capital.
Atomico, Burda and Vorwerk Ventures - all previous backers - also participated, alongside Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One champion (because he drives a fast car, alright?)
UK-based Zapp, which launched in 2020, has now raised $300 million in total.
It is currently live in London, Manchester, Cambridge, Bristol, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and is running a soft launch in Paris.
The fresh funds will go towards building out its infrastructure. Zapp plans to open new dark stores in Canary Wharf and Kentish Town as it expands coverage.
A company spokesperson told the Evening Standard: “What we think will win in this space is good old fashioned customer experience. It’s about under promising and over delivering. That requires a lot of hard work behind the scenes.”
Deliverect
Earlier this week, Deliverect, a Belgian startup that aims to simplify online food delivery, secured more than $150 million (€130 million) in a Series D funding round led by Coatue and Alkeon Capital, as well as existing investors OMERS Ventures, DST Global, Redpoint Ventures, Newion and Smartfin.
This brought Deliverect to $240 million raised to date and puts the company's valuation at over $1.4 billion.
Founded in 2018, it is using the cash to invest in engineering and technology advancements, expand its product portfolio and scale to serve hundreds of thousands of establishments, which now includes convenience and grocery stores in addition to restaurants.
Deliverect is also launching a dedicated app store. It has received 100 million orders to date and processed one and a half million orders per week in 2021, a 300% increase in less than one year.
"As digitisation becomes more and more popular, we've seen how much not only restaurants but grocery and convenience stores need streamlined online ordering to meet customer satisfaction, especially among Millennials and Generation Z shoppers," said Zhong Xu, Deliverect Co-founder and CEO.
"This funding will advance our efforts to serve everyone in the hospitality community through our App Store and beyond. We're thrilled for Deliverect's next phase as the leader in online order automation, especially as so many people prefer the convenience of ready-to-eat food delivery today."
Sarah Venning, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Pret A Manger, commented: "Over the past two years we've transformed our business to bring Pret to more people, which includes significantly growing our online delivery platforms and reshaping how customers order with us.”
“With the help of Deliverect, we've enabled significant growth for our delivery partner business and introduced a system that our shop teams love and find easy to use, helping us to serve more customers digitally than ever before."
Sebastian Duesterhoeft, General Partner at Coatue, said:"The multi-billion dollar market for restaurant side technology is being fuelled by multiple tailwinds including a change in consumer habits related to the ongoing pandemic, the need to adapt to the ever changing landscape of delivery networks, and shifts in foodservice retail such as dark kitchens and virtual restaurant brands.”
“We believe Deliverect is capitalising on these trends with its goal to become a category leader with a mission to empower restaurants globally.”
