Europe’s best-funded speedy grocery startup, Getir, plans to quit all markets outside of its founding country, Turkey, it said in a statement on Monday.
The company said in a statement that will exit the US, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK — which Getir says represent just 7% of its revenues. It had already pulled out of Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.
The news means approximately 1.8k warehouse workers in Germany will lose their jobs, while 1.5k jobs are expected to go in the UK, according to reports.
Sifted has reached out to Getir but the company declined to comment on job losses.
Alongside the announcement, Getir has raised fresh capital from Emirati sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and G Squared. The cash will be deployed in Getir’s native Turkey, now its sole market.
The company did not disclose the amount raised or its new valuation — which once stood at $12bn.
End of an era
The departure from both its home market of Europe, and the ambitious bet that was its US expansion, marks a significant new low point for a sector that was once the VC flavour of the month.
Getir acquired its rival Gorillas for a fraction of the money that VCs had poured into the Berlin-founded startup, as investors went into damage limitation mode and cut their losses.
Getir’s exit from these markets, and the re-focus on Turkey, means that what was left of the market that Gorillas built — spending $1.3bn of VC dollars in the process — has completely gone up in smoke.
It’s worth saying that, compared to some of its newer European rivals, Getir has been running for longer in its home country of Turkey, where it says it has been able to establish more sustainable unit economics at scale.
