It looked like Spanish start-up home delivery app Glovo was going to secure a substantial market share in Middle East and Latin America. This no longer appears to be the case following some setbacks in Egypt and Chile.
Glovo, the Spanish start-up founded in Barcelona in 2015. It is an on demand service that purchases, picks-up and delivers anything that is ordered through the app. The service is carried-out in less than an hour by independent couriers, called Glovers. The startup has raised more than $40 million in funding with Rakuten leading their Series B last year.
Barcelona-headquartered startup is already available in more than 60 cities across 9 countries in Europe and South America.
Bye Bye Glovo
For the Egyptian market, it seems like Glovo couldn’t stand against the 2 giants recently merged (Uber and Careem). Both have recently introduced motorbikes as a ride option for their users in Cairo which means that it won’t be easy for Glovo to keep the competition going against Uber and Careem.
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Although Glovo Egypt was one of the best performing cities and was growing 50% month on month, Uber and Careem drivers are likely to generate more revenues while Glovo has flat delivery rates.
Glovo’s Middle East plans is now revolving around Casablanca as the next destination in the Middle East and North Africa. Maybe the brand will be more lucky in the Moroccan market. While expects to be seen in at least 4-5 more countries of the MENA region by the end of 2019.
Last week, the company announced that it will abandon the South American country (Chile) due to some hefty financial losses. The startup has been preparing for its departure over the past few days, which entails letting go of executives and taking down equipment. A complete operational shutdown will take place on Tuesday, April 30 after spending only two years in Chile.
Update:
The sudden withdrawal of Glovo came on an agreed deal with the Lakestar (The European Venture Capital), which owns Otlob.com to obtain funding to serve the Spanish startup in the expansion of other regions in exchange for leaving Egypt and Chile.
Glovo raised 150 million Euros after they closed the operation in Egypt. The Spanish delivery startup Glovo said on Tuesday it had raised raises €150 million Series D ($168.08 million) in equity from institutional investors and venture capital funds to finance its international expansion.
The round was led by Lakestar and Drake, along with new investors Idinvest Partners, and Korelya Capital.