Glovo secures funding, surpasses $1 billion unicorn valuation

Glovo secures funding, surpasses $1 billion unicorn valuation

Glovo, an on-demand delivery startup and an alumni of Nairobi Garage, has secured €150m ($165.33 million) in Series E funding.

The round, which was led by Mubadala with further support from previous investors Drake Enterprises, Idinvest and Lakestar, allowed the company to reach the unicorn status surpassing a $1 billion valuation and becoming the third Spanish tech firm to surpass the $1 billion valuation mark.

Glovo intends to use the funds to consolidate its position in the market as it moves towards profitability, expand its tech team, continue to strengthen its tech offering by further streamlining its user experience, reducing the waiting time for couriers and customers, and opening new dark stores and cook rooms.

Led by Oscar Pierre, Co-founder and CEO, Glovo allows people to buy, collect and send any product within the same city at a time, in under an hour. It has more than 1.8 million monthly active users and 25,000 associated partners.

The company operates in 288 cities across 26 countries, including EEMEA, LATAM, and most recently in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Glovo currently employs over 1,500 people globally, with 600+ in the Barcelona HQ, and over 50,000 active Glovers which make money from the platform.

The company entered the Kenyan Market in February 2018 and started off their operations from Nairobi Garage, Westlands Office space. Since then, the company has expanded it operations in most Towns across the country including Kitengela and Nakuru. Currently,  Glovo, competes with the likes of Uber Eats.

The firm has also partnered with over 150 brands and franchises like retailer Carrefour and Naivas and restaurant chain Artcaffe to deliver orders to customers.The app charges a maximum delivery fee of Sh100, and the charges are about Sh50 for customers making orders within Nairobi Central Business Districts.

Apart from Kenya, Glovo also has  presence in Morocco, Egypt and Ivory Coast with plans to expand to Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania.

The company has also recently acquired  a number of companies including Pizza Portal in Poland in a deal estimated to reach €35m deal.

It plans to expand its global tech team by hiring 300 additional engineers by mid-2020, with 40 dedicated engineers and 50 tech and product experts to be based in its new Warsaw office.

Glovo will continue to innovate in the delivery sector and build out its multi-category offerings, delivering beverages, pharmaceutical products and other everyday items.