Consumer goods and food delivery service Gopufftoday announced that it secured USD 1 billion in new funding at a USD15 billion valuation. The company was founded in 2013 by college students Rafael Ilishayevin and Yakir Gola in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and helped kickstart a new category of food delivery in the U.S. — “instant” delivery of essential groceries and other home goods during 24 hours a day for a flat fee of USD 1.95.
Gopuff said that “this milestone brings [us] an important step closer to achieving our vision of building Gopuff into the world’s go-to solution for immediate needs: with these new funds, we will accelerate our strategic priorities, including furthering geographic expansion across North America, expanding deeper into the UK and across Europe, hiring top-tier local talent, and more.”
The company needs a fast expansion of its service because other similar services namely Getir (Turkey, which is already valued at USD 7.5 billion), Flink (Germany), Gorillas (Germany), Glovo (Spain), Zapp (UK), Cajoo (France) and Weezy (UK) are aggressively growing as well.
Over the past few months Gopuff has made several strategic acquisitions and executed on growth objectives – entering the UK via last-mile delivery platform Fancy (May 2020), delivering in California via alcoholic beverage chain BevMo! (November 2020), launching its own delivery-only kitchen Gopuff Kitchen (July 2020), and acquiring fleet management platform rideOS (June 2020).
GoPuff currently operates 450 sites across North America and the U.K., which includes more than 285 distribution centers, so called dark stores or micro-fulfillment centers in Gopuff’s words. In addition, the company owns 185 retailers which it acquired together with BevMo in November last year.
Backers that participated in funding the USD 1bn include new financial partners Blackstone’s Horizon platform, Guggenheim Investments, Hedosophia, MSD Partners, and Adage Capital, as well as existing investors Fidelity Management and Research Company, Softbank Vision Fund 1, Atreides Management, and Eldridge Capital.
As Gopuff continues to define the Instant Needs economy, we are thrilled to have new leading global partners onboard, along with the support of our longtime investors. This funding round is further validation of the success of our model and will enable us to continue to do what we do best: deliver an unmatched customer experience,” said Rafael Ilishayev, co-founder and co-CEO of Gopuff.
"We have truly doubled down on our key business priorities, accelerating our geographic expansion by entering new markets in the US and abroad, innovating for our customers, and continuing to invest heavily in our technology, our people, and our partners. We look forward to continuing to enhance the customer experience and to bring the magic of Gopuff to new customers around the world," added Yakir Gola, co-founder and co-CEO of Gopuff.
“Gopuff has quietly built a very strong business and solidified itself as the leading player, continuing to define this evolving category,” said Scott Minerd, Global Chief Investment Officer of Guggenheim Investments. “Rafael and Yakir are focused on maintaining fiscal responsibility while having the ability to successfully execute on strategic growth opportunities. This measured approach along with Gopuff’s impressive offering has only just scratched the surface. We are thrilled to support this incredibly strong company and look forward to being part of Gopuff’s journey and continued expansion.”
