The value of fast-track grocery delivery service Getir has dropped sharply and is reportedly now worth a quarter of what it was valued at 18 months ago, after a big shakeout in the sector amid declining consumer demand.
The Istanbul-based company is raising $500m in a funding round that will value the business at £2.01bn, after taking the new money into account, according to report in Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter.
It had been valued at up to £9.47bn when it raised funds in March 2022, but its valuation was slashed to £5.2bn in a funding round in April. Despite its reduced valuation, Getir’s new funding is among the biggest deals this year.
The FT reported that the money comes from existing shareholders including the Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company, the venture capital firm G Squared and the investor Michael Moritz, who recently quit Sequoia Capital after almost four decades at the California venture capital group.
The Istanbul-based company’s round is another sign of how the extended downturn in venture capital markets is forcing start-up founders and investors to accept dramatically reduced valuations in order to raise new funds.
The news comes after it emerged that Getir announced 2,500 job cuts across five countries as demand waned in the delivery market. The cuts amount to more than a tenth of its 23,000-strong workforce and affect couriers, pickers and office employees in the UK, US, Germany, the Netherlands and its home market Turkey.
Getir has pulled out of Spain, Italy and Portugal as there is less demand for rapid deliveries of groceries in less than 20 minutes, while costs have also gone up.
Demand for grocery delivery boomed during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic but dropped after lockdowns ended and bars, restaurants, shops and offices reopened. Since being set up in 2015, Getir has grown into one of the largest of more than a dozen delivery app companies, but most of its rivals have been sold or closed down.
The report adds that despite its sharply reduced valuation, Getir’s new funding is among the largest such deals this year.
