Delivery Hero steps up acquisition spree

Berlin based Delivery Hero has announced plans to continue its acquisition spree after confirming it had bought Turkish grocery same-day delivery company Marketyo in last week’s earnings call. It also took a 5% stake in London rivals Deliveroo.

According to Delivery Hero’s chief financial officer Emmanuel Thomassin, the firm was an early mover in the grocery delivery space, which exploded in size during the pandemic.

“It’s confirmation that our thinking was right,” Thomassin said, adding that the company will be deepening its quick commerce presence in existing markets.

“We will do very specific M&A transactions,” he said of Delivery Hero’s plans to expand this line of the business.

A lot of venture capital has gone into the within-the-hour delivery industry, with some commentators wondering whether such companies can scale sustainably.

“I think in general for the customer, 10 minutes or 12 minutes or 15 minutes doesn’t really matter quite frankly,” Thomassin added.

“I’ve never seen a customer with a clock say ‘hey, you managed it in seven minutes’, that’s more a marketing topic,” he said. “The fact that you are reliable, that’s the most important thing.”

The news comes as Delivery Hero announced that in the second financial quarter of 2021, it saw revenues grow to €1.5 billion, up €0.1 billion from the previous quarter. This was off the back of 730 million orders globally. The company has yet to make a profit.

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