Speedy grocery startup Flink raises $100m at $900m valuation

Speedy grocery startup Flink has raised $100m in funding, in a deal which reportedly values the Berlin-based company at $900m — signalling increased confidence in the delivery sector after a post-Covid downturn.

Flink’s new funds come from Prosus Ventures and Btomorrow Ventures, the venture wing of British American Tobacco.

Bloomberg reported that the new round means Flink’s valuation has increased to $900m, citing a person familiar with the matter. The company has raised $1.4bn in total.

Flink was founded in 2021, part of a cohort of European companies that promised to deliver goods to customers at record speeds. They enjoyed investor and consumer frenzy during the pandemic: in 2021, at the height of the tech boom, VCs invested $5.5bn into European speedy grocery companies.

But the pandemic-fuelled delivery craze cooled, however, and many players scaled back their operations.

Gorillas, another Berlin-based speedy grocery startup, was bought up by Turkish firm Getir, which was the best capitalised player in the European market. Getir then suffered its own troubles, withdrawing from all European markets. It was bought by Uber last month.

Flink states it will apply its new funds to expand in Germany and the Netherlands, the two markets where it currently operates. “Quick commerce works when it is built on operational discipline and realistic customer expectations,” states Julian Dames, CEO of Flink.

Flink lost €515m in 2022 and €213m in 2023, according to Bloomberg, citing the latest available filing in Germany’s corporate regisattempt. The company states it is now operating profitably at EBITDA level.

Sifted recently drew up a list of other German “soonicorns” — companies that could soon achieve a $1bn valuation — including fintech startup Vivid, nuclear energy business Proxima Fusion and car subscription platform Finn.

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