HomeKnow-How10 online supermarket startups zooming through 2020

10 online supermarket startups zooming through 2020

Due to the current circumstances, most of us are quite limited with our grocery shopping opportunities, which certainly differs from country to country. In some, one can still go to supermarkets for regular groceries while in others, it is not an option at the moment. For these reasons, online supermarkets with home delivery have become increasingly popular in the last months.

In many European countries, from Sweden to Spain, online supermarket startups are gaining popularity connecting customers with local suppliers and supermarket chains and providing safe and convenient grocery experience.

Here are 10 booming supermarket startups differing in the type of the products, technology, delivery terms and location.

Buymie – Founded in 2015, this Irish startup claims to be a mobile first, on-demand grocery delivery platform which enables consumers to order any grocery or household item from local stores using their mobile device. The delivery can be done at the time of the customer’s choice, from 1 hour to 7 days in advance. In April 2020, Buymie raised €2.2 million capital to roll out their service across the existing retail infrastructure in every major Irish city. Currently operating in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow, the startup is experiencing the 300% boost in activity as a result of social distancing measures.

Crisp – Crisp is the app-only supermarket from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, founded with a mission of offering local seasonal products to consumers, while addressing increasing awareness over the food’s origin and its ecological impact. The app offers next-day delivery six days a week across the Netherlands and focuses on quality food from over 200 local fresh food suppliers. Since its launch in 2018, Crisp has raised €3 million seed capital, topped up with a further €5 million in summer 2019.

Grocemania – This on-demand grocery delivery, which launched in 2017 in London, has recently expanded its services. Grocemania enables people to get groceries delivered to their door, on the same day that they order. While the large supermarket chains are overwhelmed by demand, the startup offers both time-efficient and local solution. Connecting consumers with small supermarkets and convenience stores to corner shops and independent grocers, Grocemania is on its way expand to Newcastle, Birmingham and Manchester by July 2020, with more regions to follow.

LolaMarket – Lola Market is a Spanish online platform – website and app – which offers the online purchase of food products in traditional markets, supermarkets and neighbourhood shops. Lola Market offers a fixed shipping cost regardless of the size of the order, with delivery available within one hour or the same day. All you need to do is to insert your postcode and the delivery time. The service is currently available in 11 Spanish cities, including Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Coruña, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Pamplona, Sevilla, Valencia y Zaragoza.

Picnic – Picnic is the fast-growing Dutch company from Amsterdam which created an application to order groceries at low prices. The app receives all the orders from users for the next-day delivery through its platform and sends them to bakers, greengrocers, and other suppliers. They deliver orders (for free from €35) using Picnic’s iconic red-and-white electric vehicles. Founded in 2015, Picnic raised €100 million in 2017 topped up by €250 million in 2019 to build a robotized distribution centre.

Bring! – Bring! is a grocery shopping startup from Switzerland. Founded by Marco Cerqui and Sandro Strebel in April, 2015 in Zurich, Bring! simplifies grocery shopping with shared shopping lists, integrated recipes, online shopping, local offers, and loyalty cards. The Bring! app covers every step in the shopping process: inspiration, planning and the final purchase. The team raised €2 million in Series A funding in 2018 with the plan to simplify grocery shopping for millions of people in the future.

Oddbox – Oddbox is a sustainable fruit and vegetable box delivery service from England. Working with farmers to supply seasonal products at risk of going to waste, the startup has already rescued 2,000 tons of produce and delivered 400,000 boxes within London only. Founded in 2016, the UK startup has achieved over 400% growth the past 12 months. In March 2020, Oddbox raised approximately €3.2 million from the Northern Venture Capital Trust (VCT) Funds with plans to expand nationwide. The startup also plans to further develop its technology, including a “personal impact” dashboard which allows customers to track the amount of food waste, CO2 emissions and water they’ve saved.

La Belle Vie – La Belle Vie is the online grocery platform based in Paris, France selling groceries, meat, fish and vegetables. The startup prides itself in developing all its tools from scratch, including its warehouse and delivery management services. In 2017, La Belle Vie generated €3 million in sales and one year later they raised €5.5 million to launch a second warehouse in Paris and other French cities. Last but not least, apart from regular groceries, La Belle Vie offers freshly-baked croissants to order from local boulangerie — sounding like a very-much-needed ‘croissant-as-a-service’ startup.

Vembla – The Sweden-based startup, Vembla was founded in 2019 by Sunil Dutt (CEO), Dino Todorovic and Sebastian Malmberg as a graduate result from the startup incubator Antler. Vembla offers customers an app with a vast selection of groceries and everyday goods from local retailers. Unlike its competitors, the company utilizes hyperlocal model which allows customers to receive their deliveries within 60 mins through environment-friendly modes of transport. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, they are now offering free delivery for the elderly and individuals in high risk groups so they can remain safe shopping from home while self-isolating. In July 2019, Vembla raised €94K capital investment from local Swedish angel investors.

Good Club – Founded in 2017, Good Club is a London-based online supermarket, selling sustainable products directly to consumers around the UK. What makes them different is their ambition to turn into ‘the world’s first zero-waste online supermarket’ which operates through a closed loop system in terms of product packaging. In order to achieve it, Good Club is aiming to reuse the packaging and focus on items that were “particularly hard to find in non-plastic”. Their successful crowdfunding campaign on CrowdCube in 2019 helped the startup to raise €450K seed funding. In the future, their plans are to switch all products to more environmentally-friendly packaging or drop those that cannot be sustainably packed.

By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!

Daria Kholod
Daria Kholod
Daria is an experienced Communications and Marketing Strategist with an affinity for innovation and entrepreneurship. She is an active member of the Dutch innovation ecosystem. Daria writes articles about European innovation, with a specific interest in fundraising, female entrepreneurship and the Netherlands.
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