History
The company was founded in May 2020 by Kağan Sümer, Jörg Kattner, Jeff Hester, and Ronny Shibley in Berlin. They aimed to deliver groceries and other supermarket goods ordered through its app by bike courier, charging supermarket prices.
Initially starting in Berlin, it rapidly spread to dozens of European cities and expanded in America. In 2022, Gorillas operated in multiple cities including Amsterdam, London, Paris, Munich and New York, USA.[8]
In December 2020, the company raised $44 million in Series A funding, followed by $290 million in Series B funding in March 2021 and almost $1 billion in Series C funding in October 2021.[9][10][11] The last investment round, valued the startup at 1 billion, making it a unicorn in just 9 months, the fastest company in Germany to do so.[12]
Sümer stated in 2022 that his aim was to raise $700 million of new financing to expand the company and make it profitable.[13][14]
In June 2022, Gorillas announced it would launch its own products for sale in Germany, France, the Netherlands and England. Items sold under Gorillas' label include spreads, pasta, coffee and beer.[15]
Following its rapid expansion in the first two years of its existence, Gorillas failed to live up to financial expectations. As a consequence, in 2022, it ended operations in Belgium, Italy and Spain. In England, it closed all operations with the exception of those in London. It also cancelled plans to enter other markets such as Switzerland and Australia.[16]
In December 2022, Getir, a competitor based in Istanbul, acquired Gorillas for $1.2 billion.[17][3][18]
