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The salad days of overbold food market delivery startups are over , but those that have stayed the course , and built business that are seeing gain , are still here and thirsty for more growth . On Friday , one of those survivors , the Czech market delivery companyRohlik , declare $ 170 million in new funding .
Rohlik — which means “ baker ” in Czech ( and also a little roll the baker might make ) — has target to carve out a differentiated position . Its focal point has been on operating smaller warehouse and linking up tie with local producers and sellers , such as butchers and fishmonger , rather than regurgitate what a prominent supermarket might sell online ( or indeed stock in a physical store ) . In reference to the Rohlik of its name , it bakes bread at its distribution centers .
“ To replace Rohlik , you would have to do five different shop , ” Tomáš Čupr , the CEO and founding father of Rohlik , told TechCrunch in an interview . Some 17,000 SKUs are on pass via the service , with delivery slots of 1 to 2 hours from regulate .
Rohlik allege it serve 800,000 customers in 2023 . Now the plan is to use the fresh funding to expand its modelling in Europe — with a target of set in motion in 10 more cities in the next six years .
Alongside serve expansion , it need to turn up the gas on its technical school , which includes logistics and analytics software system , as well as robotics for sorting and picking — by licensing it to other delivery thespian to make out their own local networks and saving operations modeled on what Rohlik has built . Čupr said it will launch its technical school platform licensing initiative later this twelvemonth .
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( EBRD ) is the lead investor in Rohlik ’s latest round , with previous backers Sofina , Index Ventures , Quadrille , and TCF Capital also participating , as well as the European Investment Bank ( EIB ) under its Scale - Up Initiative . The EIB portion is debt , per Čupr , who described it as a “ nonage ” of the full amount .
Čupr declined to give a evaluation for the round , but from what we understand it is high than previous valuations but less than $ 2 billion . For some context , the last big round of financial backing that Rohlik raised was in2022 , and that came in at what we now make love to be around the $ 1.3 billion valuation scrape pre - money . The total amount the inauguration has raised in fairness and debt is now approaching $ 800 million .
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This latest funding injection is coming at a tough sentence in the grocery rescue business . The peak of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a couple of year of major tending , financial backing , and usage of delivery services — which moderate to 100 of millions of dollars of financial backing being funnel into different transposition of the business enterprise model , particularly those that search particularly fresh ( such as “ instant ” delivery startups ) . In2021 alone , there was nearly $ 19 billion in investmentsin grocery pitch startups accord to the investment firm AgFunder .
Perhaps inevitably , after the peak come up the trough , with a numeral of delivery startups disappearing and/or being acquired for pennies on the dollar / quid / euro , combined with lots of layoffs , curtailment and restructuring .
After years of aggressive financial backing and development , the erstwhile major playerGetiris now focus on its home grocery store of Turkey , for instance . While U.S. rival Gopuffreportedlyburned through $ 400 million last class . And it ’s not just the most obvious instant musician that are buckling . Oda in Norway , a heavy grocery challenger that also upgrade and acquire sharply , has beenlaying off masses in wave and contract its geographical footprint .
Even Ocado , seen by many as the aureate standard in the grocery delivery world , has beenstrugglingon feeble net profit and had partners pausing their Ocado - powered storage warehouse projects .
Given all this turbulence , Rohlik is both feeling the pressure but also showing some signboard of where it might build defenses as it watches closely what others do . “ I have sex Ocado well , ” he noted . “ Our CFO is ex-husband - Ocado . ”
Outside of the Czech Republic , the company — which Čupr describe as “ 20 class in the making ” — has operations in Austria , Germany ( where it function as Knuspr , as illustrated above ) , Hungary and Romania . Its business concern social unit in its home marketplace , in Hungary and in Munich are all now profitable . Rohlik said revenues have , on average , been growing 40 % berth - COVID-19 .
The startup has set itself a target of pass on € 1 billion in revenues and positive cash flow by the end of 2024 . But it does not disclose what its revenue are right now , so we ca n’t say if Rohlik is bite off more than it can chew .
“ We first partner with Rohlik three years ago and have been continuously impress by the management squad ’s instruction execution and investment into proprietary technology , mechanization and increasing utilization of artificial intelligence across its cognitive operation , ” say Tamas Nagy , theater director , co - head of fairness investments at the EBRD , in a statement . “ We are very proud to patronise Rohlik ’s growth and enlargement plans in the years to follow . ”
