Takeaway delivery giant Delivery Hero today announced that it has acquired InstaShop, a leading online grocery marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa. Through this acquisition, Delivery Hero continues to complement its position in grocery delivery and emphasizes the importance of q-commerce.
This month, we profiled three of the fastest growing food delivery startups in Europe in our article Glovo vs. Deliveroo vs. Delivery Hero: Battle of the food delivery scaleups. Delivery Hero is a global leader in takeaway delivery, and since its founding in Berlin in 2011, has grown into a massive 25K+ person team of 100 nationalities over 5 continents. Part of its success in this geographical domination comes from its acquisition strategy, such as Foody in Cyprus last year. Now, with this acquisition, Delivery Hero adds another string to its bow, covering more of the Middle East and North Africa.
InstaShop, founded in 2015 by Greek founders and launched first in Dubai, is a leading online marketplace for supermarkets, pharmacies, pet shops and other businesses in the Middle East. InstaShop’s team is split between operations in Dubai, UAE and their tech team in Athens, Greece, with the service being available to users in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt and Lebanon.
Instashop was initially backed back in 2015 by VentureFriends, a European early stage investor from Greece and Jabbar, a seasoned investor in the MENA region. Instashop’s ability to scale operations rapidly has been essential in ensuring access to food and medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The surge in demand put the operations of the company to the test, but Instashop successfully catered to a doubling of orders during the peak months.
The transaction sets a record value for a Greek startup and one of the largest recent exits in the MENA region. An exit of around €304.3 million is a record for a startup with a Greek founding team and operations in Greece and follows Softomotive’s acquisition by Microsoft earlier this year which is rumoured to have been around €126 million. It’s anticipated that the success story will prompt more investors to get involved with startups in the region as well as inspire future entrepreneurs in the Greek startup ecosystem.
Niklas Östberg, CEO and co-founder of Delivery Hero, said: “I’m delighted to welcome InstaShop to the Delivery Hero family. The InstaShop team embodies our values and brings a strong vision and capabilities. As a leading player in the grocery segment, InstaShop has built a service customers love, and their expertise is a great addition to our quick commerce expansion. Together, we will continue to invest to drive the future of delivery by pushing the standards for speed and convenience.”
John Tsioris, CEO and co-founder of InstaShop, said: “The partnership with Delivery Hero is a great opportunity for us to continue to grow our business and put the group’s expertise to use. I really enjoyed working with Delivery Hero on this deal and am thrilled to continue to further expand the reach and quality of our service at InstaShop. Delivery Hero is a network driven by ambitious founders and entrepreneurs just like ourselves, and we are proud to become part of this family.”
