Düsseldorf, Frankfurt Flink, a Berlin-based food delivery service, is buying French competitor Cajoo. With the acquisition of the smaller rival, Flink will become the market leader in France, according to its own statements. At least as important for the company of boss Oliver Merkel: as part of the deal, France’s retail giant Carrefour will also join Flink and become an exclusive trading partner. The agreed cooperation is reminiscent of the existing partnership with the German Rewe Group.
The deal shows that Flink has a good starting position in the upcoming consolidation of the small-scale market. An accelerated consolidation of the market had already been predicted by experts. In the difficult market environment, weaker start-ups are currently finding hardly any investors in the segment. This has led to a drastic change in mood.
During the corona pandemic, investors were still lining up to invest in the booming lightning delivery services worldwide. Due to the phased combination of high infection rates, no or at most low vaccine availability and long quarantine periods, the model of instant delivery services for food and other supermarket products met with great interest worldwide.
There are a number of start-ups in the market, in addition to fast companies such as Gorillas, Picnic, Knuspr, Getir and Jokr. All of them are expanding strongly and, as a rule, write high losses. This is also why mergers are to be expected now. In this way, costs can be reduced.
According to company circles, Cajoo is changing hands for under 100 million euros. The number two in the French market has six million customers in Paris and the next eight largest French cities. In the first quarter of this year, the service is said to have processed almost 450,000 orders. However, industry experts expect that not all users of Cajoo will switch to the Flink app.
Therefore, the additional employees and the warehouses called “dark stores” in the centers of major cities are likely to be more relevant for Flink. Their strategic location is of great importance for the business model.
Flink’s rating should rise, it looks worse with competitors
As soon as an order is received, an employee packs the goods into a bag, a supplier usually picks them up by bicycle. The goal is deliveries within 15 minutes. In France, customers are now to be supplied with Flink drivers before the end of June.
Cajoo raised an additional $40 million in its first major Series A funding round last year. Retail giant Carrefour acquired a minority stake. The investors also include Xange, Frst Capital and Headline.
Flink itself had received $ 750 million in a financing round in December, which led to a valuation of almost three billion euros. According to company circles, Carrefour is now said to have entered the company at an even higher price, but this is not to be communicated.
Flink has sold around 500 million euros in the past twelve months, Cajoo’s revenue figures were not mentioned.
In view of the high losses that the so-called quick-commerce companies are writing, and the slumps in technology values on the stock exchanges, some competitors are having a hard time raising new funds. According to financial circles, gorillas, for example, must be prepared to raise less money than hoped for in the current financing round. An increase in the rating is considered rather unlikely. In recent years, the ratings have mostly increased significantly from round to round.
