The Ultrafast Grocery Delivery Cage Match
Getir, Uber, DoorDash and others are racing to control market share in a notoriously unprofitable business
2022 has been a brutal year for unprofitable tech stocks. Many are trading 25–50% below recent highs. The carnage hasn’t yet filtered into the private markets. In March, ultrafast grocery delivery startup Getir raised a Series E at a nearly $12 billion valuation. Below, a look at Getir’s business model and mounting competition in ultrafast delivery.
Getir: What, Me Worry?
Getir was founded in 2015 in Istanbul by Nazim Salur, an entrepreneur who also started BiTaksi, a Turkish ride-hailing app. Since then, it’s built a strong European presence, operating in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Turkey. It entered the crowded US market in late 2021 in Boston, Chicago, and New York.
Getir’s business model is similar to other ultrafast grocery delivery start-ups like GoPuff or JOKR. It’s vertically integrated, owns inventory, and peppers cities with micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs) offering limited SKUs (about 1,500 per MFC) focused on everyday needs and high frequency categories like eggs and toilet paper. Salur sees vertical integration as critical to providing speedy delivery. Globally, Getir…
