'Advanced talks': Delivery service gorillas before sale to Turkish rivals?

The lightning delivery service Gorillas, which only started in 2020, is suffering greatly from the ebbing delivery boom.

'Advanced talks': Delivery service gorillas before sale to Turkish rivals?

The lightning delivery service Gorillas, which only started in 2020, is suffering greatly from the ebbing delivery boom. The young company has to cut jobs and withdraw from markets - now a sale is said to be up for debate.

According to a "Bloomberg" report, the German food delivery service Gorillas could soon be sold to the Turkish competitor Getir. The Istanbul-based company is “in advanced talks” about taking over the Berlin startup, the news agency reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Gorilla owners would be paid partly in Getir shares and partly in cash. However, there are no final decisions, Bloomberg reported.

Getir, which was founded in 2015 and was last valued at 11.8 billion dollars, could thus make faster progress, especially in conquering the German and British markets. According to the report, Getir and Gorillas declined to comment. According to an insider, Gorillas commissioned the investment bank JPMorgan in early summer to negotiate with investors about a fresh cash injection, but also a possible sale.

The Berlin express delivery service, which promises food deliveries to the front door within ten minutes in large cities, only entered the market in 2020 and was valued at three billion dollars in the most recent EUR 860 million financing round a year ago. At that time, the restaurant delivery service Delivery Hero also got involved with 200 million euros.

In the meantime, however, the delivery boom from the corona pandemic has abated sharply. Gorillas announced job cuts and withdrawals from some markets in May in order to get back into the black faster.