Tag: gopuff

GoPuff announces another deal: UK-based Dija

Tom Paine

As anticipated by many regular Gopuff watchers, the Philly-based home delivery-based company announced the acquisition of Europe-based Dija this evening.

Founded last year, Dija currently operates in three European countries: The UK, France and Spain. Along with previously acquired UK-based Fancy, the acquisition of Dija adds to Gopuff goals for pan-European expansion.

Through the acquisitions of Dija and Fancy, “Gopuff plans to operate in three European countries with about 40 micro-fulfillment centers and 200 employees in the region, with additional plans for continued, rapid expansion.”

Gopuff has also added management talent to Europe, including executives having backgrounds with Amazon and Revolut.

Dija, which has a vertically integrated operating model similar to Gopuff’s, “will continue to operate under the Dija name in the near-term as the two companies create an integration plan.”

The transaction is anticipated to close within 30 days. Terms were not disclosed.

Gopuff’s discussions with Dija had been generally reported.

It would make sense for Gopuff to look next at a possible acquisition in Germany or elsewhere to the East in Europe.

Gopuff recently confirmed an additional $1 billion funding.

Reports: Gopuff raises another billion (since confirmed)

Tom Paine

News outlets (TechCrunch and Boston Globe reporting) say GoPuff has raised another $1 billion. The Globe says BlackStone and Fidelity are participating. Fidelity would be a return investor.

A site named  Prime Unicorn Index discovered the information in a Delaware filing, TechCrunch reported.

TechCrunch says this round (H). will be at a $15 billion post-money valuation.

Some observations:

This bring’s Gopuff’s total funding to close to $4 billion.

My guess is this will be the last round before an IPO. (Although you never quite know.)

Gopuff must be performing well enough to justify continued investor confidence. Its goal for this year is to triple revenue over last year to about $1 billion.

More acquisitions are likely. Bandit, announced this week but acquired late last year, was likely a small one. Talks with UK-based Dija are progressing, TechCrunch reports. There will likely be another big one.

Although its too early to tell, the company and its investors must be looking towards some kind of end-game. A closer relationship with Uber Eats is a possibility.

The introduction of prepared food delivered from dark kitchens is both an opportunity and a risk factor. Keeping enough drivers onboard and fairly happy will be a challenge.

The biggest risk is keeping all the pieces in the air together in a hyper-growth environment.

Gopuff launches “Gopuff Kitchen”, says it acquired Bandit last year

Tom Paine

Gopuff announced today in a press release that it had acquired Austin-based Bandit, the “first app-only coffee shop in the U.S.”, late last year.

It also announced that it has expanded into a new category with “Gopuff Kitchen, a new offering that brings made-to-order hot and fresh food to customers alongside everyday essentials”.

Gopuff says “Gopuff’s mobile kitchen facilities are within or adjacent to its micro-fulfillment centers, enabling customers to order breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night food and drink alongside any other essentials all in a single order, delivered in minutes, for a flat fee of $1.95.”

Max Crowley, co-founder of Bandit, is now leading Gopuff’s business expansion efforts, including the Gopuff Kitchen vertical, the company says.

Philadelphia will be included in the pilot program for Gopuff Kitchen, along with more than 20 other markets.

Going from packaged goods to food prep is a different order of magnitude in terms of complexity. Many companies have tripped up making this transition.

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Gopuff still on the prowl in Germany

Tom Paine

After Gopuff was reportedly turned down in its bid to acquire Berlin-based Flink, you might have though its German and Pan-European ambitions would be on hold for a while.

But no! Posted 2 days ago is a new ad. for a “Regional General Manager Job at GoPuff – Deutschland”. “This role will report directly to the VP Germany.” Don’t know if the latter has already been hired or identified.

From another article in CStoreDecisions: “Gopuff and rideOS are each currently seeking senior software engineers focused on optimization, routing, and maps, backend engineers, product managers, data scientists and product designers in Berlin, San Francisco and Pittsburgh.” That’s not Berlin, NJ.

So it doesn’t seem like Gopuff is waiting for the right acquisition in Germany to fall into its lap. Thought it might yet make one nevertheless.

Also, Amazon is reportedly on the prowl.

Stay tuned.

Gopuff Acquires rideOS to Accelerate Innovation, Expand Best-In-Class Experience to Customers Around the World (Press Release)

For $115 million in stock & cash

rideOS’ proprietary technology and team of experts will accelerate innovation as Gopuff expands globally

June 17, 2021 03:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

PHILADELPHIA & SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Gopuff, the go-to solution for immediate everyday needs, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire rideOS, an enterprise start-up that builds cutting-edge proprietary technology for advanced routing, on-demand dispatch and fleet optimization for the fast-growing delivery and logistics industries. As Gopuff launches in more complex and high-density cities, accelerates geographic expansion and enters into new verticals, rideOS’ proprietary technology and team of industry-leading experts will enable the company to innovate faster, power multi-modal deliveries, and continually reduce delivery times to continue to deliver a best-in-class customer experience.

“Gopuff’s mission and global ambition to be the world’s go-to solution for immediate everyday needs is a natural extension of the rideOS’ vision to build software that efficiently moves people and things throughout the world”Tweet this

Sharad Sundaresan, Gopuff’s SVP, Product & Growth, said, “rideOS is among the best mapping, dispatching and routing technology firms in the industry and we are thrilled to have them lead innovation in key sectors for Gopuff. This investment will enable Gopuff to continually improve the customer experience in more complex geographies as we lead and define the Instant Needs category worldwide.”

Acquiring rideOS, a company created and led by mapping and ride-hailing pioneers from Uber, Google, Apple and others, will afford Gopuff several strategic advantages, including:

  • Provide Gopuff with a team of global experts dedicated to optimizing and innovating its logistics and operations technology
  • Bring Gopuff immediate access to proprietary delivery, routing, and logistics technology and the ability to accelerate the rate of innovation in these sectors
  • Position Gopuff to further improve its industry-leading delivery times and superior unit economics
  • Quickly develop technology to power multi-modal deliveries and other advancements, to excel in more complex, high-density cities
  • Enable Gopuff to develop new tools for its field organization and delivery-partners that both improve their experience and enable greater efficiencies

“Gopuff’s mission and global ambition to be the world’s go-to solution for immediate everyday needs is a natural extension of the rideOS’ vision to build software that efficiently moves people and things throughout the world,” said Justin Ho, co-founder and CEO of rideOS. “We see this as a unique opportunity to scale our culture, values, team, products and technology, with a company at the forefront of defining the Instant Needs economy. Given Gopuff’s exponential growth, we expect to significantly increase our headcount by the end of this year, expanding our presence in Silicon Valley, Pittsburgh, and Berlin.”

Gopuff and rideOS are each currently seeking senior software engineers focused on optimization, routing, and maps, backend engineers, product managers, data scientists and product designers in Berlin, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. For more information about open roles at rideOS, visit https://rideos.ai/company/careers.

About Gopuff

Gopuff is the go-to solution for immediate everyday needs, fulfilling customer orders of cleaning and home products, over-the-counter medications, baby and pet products, food and drinks, and in some markets, alcohol – in just minutes. With micro-fulfillment centers in every market it serves, the company delivers thousands of products quickly for a flat $1.95 delivery charge. Gopuff is open 24/7 in many markets and late night everywhere else to bring customers what they need, when they need it most.

Founded in 2013 by co-founders and co-CEOs Rafael Ilishayev and Yakir Gola, Gopuff currently operates more than 400 sites, including 275 micro-fulfillment centers and the recently acquired 160+ BevMo! and Fancy sites across the US and UK. To learn more, visit www.Gopuff.com or follow Gopuff on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Download the Gopuff app on iOS and Android.

About rideOS

rideOS is an enterprise software company powering mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) technologies designed to support a variety of complex dispatch and optimization use cases for heterogeneous delivery fleets. rideOS was founded in 2017 by Justin Ho (CEO) and Chris Blumenberg (CTO) who both came from years of working in the mobility industry at Uber. The team is composed of talent from Uber, Google, Apple, Facebook. rideOS’s Routing, Optimization, and Dispatch products are uniquely capable of supporting both autonomous and human-driven vehicles; and can be used for a variety of use-cases including on-demand ride-hailing, meal delivery, and last-mile logistics. Our products help our partners increase utilization and efficiency, improve profitability, and drive growth. rideOS is backed by leading global venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital and Next47. The Company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Pittsburgh and Berlin. rideOS is accelerating the safe, global roll-out of next-generation transport.

Contacts

Media Contact:
[email protected]

When will Gopuff pull the cord on an IPO?

Tom Paine

There is almost a kind of meme for anticipating a Gopuff IPO, which possibly could come later this year. This is was what Reuters reported at the time of Gopuff’s new billion dollar round in March:

“A source close to the matter told Reuters that GoPuff has already started discussions with financial advisers and banks and are mulling whether to go forward through a traditional initial public offering or a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.”

if Gopuff, now valued at $8.9 billion, can stay roughly on track with its goal of tripling revenue this year (again) while keeping operating losses under control, and demonstrating profitability in its longest established markets, then it would probably be a go. The biggest risk could be a slow down in the market and its receptivity to highly valued IPOs, which indeed is possible later this year (in my opinion).

But the nature of Gopuff’s business adds to the allure. Unlike some enterprise software product, the Gopuff brand is becoming known widely as it expands across the nation. And the people who like the brand or at least appreciate its convenience, may become enamored with the idea of owning a piece. The rumor mills on the web are heating up.

It could be that the only thing that may slow Gopuff down in the short term would be a shortage of drivers.

DoorDash’s December IPO was a huge positive to SoftBank’s market value (although its becoming more of a direct competitor to Gopuff as it adds dark stores), so I can only imagine that SoftBank anxiously anticipates an eventual Gopuff offering.

Also, people should be prepared for efforts to acquire Gopuff that could come at any time.

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Report: Gopuff, Amazon seek Germany’s Flink, which just raised $240 million Update: Gopuff rejected; Amazon still under consideration

Tom Paine

Update: Flink raised $240 million this month, according to Bloomberg.

A Bloomberg article entitled “Amazon (AMZN), Gopuff Are Said to Explore Deal for Germany’s Flink ” surfaced today. Not being a subscriber, I’m unable to link to the content.

Flink, which officially launched in January, is a “dark store” home delivery startup like Gopuff. It raised $52 million in March. Flink has operations in ten German cities, and has also entered France and the Netherlands.

In May, Gopuff acquired UK-based Fancy.

If I were an investor in Gopuff, I’d worry a bit about its European expansion strategy. Gopuff’s US rollout seems to be proceeding fairly well, but managing Europe simaltaneously creates more financial risk.

Amazon, on the other hand, must be considered a potential acquirer of any major player in the home delivery space.

Gopuff buys Fancy, enters UK market

Tom Paine

As was first disclosed as a possibility by TechCrunch back in February, Gopuff announced today that it has completed the acquisition of UK-based Gopuff look-alike Fancy.

Launched late last year, Fancy is a graduate of Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator. Operating in six cities, Fancy has a business model similar to Gopuff’s in that it operates its own microfulfillment centers with company-owned inventory. .

“Acquiring Fancy is an important first step as we accelerate expansion in the UK and Europe and quickly accelerate our investment in the international market,” aid Daniel Folkman, Gopuff SVP of Business in a statement.