There has been a lot of buzz recently about the UK-based weezy 20m series lane. The hype isn’t just because of the great location and the high-end cars, but also the money involved. Is this a good time to get in on the action? Here are a few things you should know before getting in.
Funding
Weezy, a London based grocery delivery service has raised $20 million in a Series A round. The company plans to use the money to expand in London and beyond. According to the company, they plan to operate in 40 cities by the end of 2021, and aim to provide 15-minute delivery of groceries. In the meantime, they will be focusing on acquiring 50 more employees in the next four months.
In addition to the funding, the company also launched a new grocery e-commerce operation. They source their groceries from independent bakers and wholesalers, and then deliver it in under 15 minutes. For now, they only have one fulfillment center in London. However, the company plans to open two more in the city and another in the outskirts by the time the year is over. Its founders, Alec Dent and Kristof Van Beveren, have both previously worked in the consumer goods industry. Previously, Dent was the business development director at BlaBlaCar, while Van Beveren was the chief operating officer of a startup called Drover.
While Weezy isn’t the first online grocery delivery service, they certainly aren’t the first to do it in the most efficient way possible. By using pedal cycles and electric scooters, they are able to deliver a wide range of groceries in under 15 minutes.
Scope of the deal
Weezy is an online supermarket business. The company sources groceries from a range of independent businesses and then delivers them to customers’ homes in as little as 15 minutes. They currently operate micro fulfilment centres in London and Manchester. And they plan to expand their operations across the UK.
They’re looking to hire 50 new employees in the next four months. That’s a huge boost for a startup with a relatively small amount of funding. The money came from a series of angel investors, including Groupon founder Chris Muhr. It also included existing shareholders Heartcore Capital and Left Lane Capital. These two firms led the Series A investment for the startup.
As part of their plan, Weezy plans to open up more grocery delivery sites across the UK in the coming year. The new sites will include 40 more locations in the UK by the end of 2021. This will help the company take on rivals such as Getir. In addition, the company plans to expand its operation and add groceries from more independent bakers and wholesalers.
Weezy launched in 2019. Earlier this year, the company raised a $20 million Series A round of funding led by Left Lane Capital and Heartcore Capital. Kristof Van Beveren and Alec Dent are co-founders of the company. Before founding Weezy, they were both in the consumer goods and business development fields.
Key takeaways
In the last month, a couple of startups have grabbed the lion’s share of the funding spotlight. One is Gorillas, the Germany-based supermarket juggernaut, which raised just under $1 billion in funding. The other is Weezy, a grocery delivery startup based in London, which raised more than $25 million in its Series A round. With plans to expand in the U.K., Weezy will also add 50 new employees to its payroll over the next four months. Founded in January 2010, the company sources groceries from a variety of local independent businesses, including bakers and wholesalers, and delivers them in under 15 minutes.
Finally
Unlike its competitors, Weezy isn’t content to merely serve the burgeoning market of instant gratification. Rather, it sources its goods from a number of locations, including a couple of fulfillment centers in London. By the end of the year, the company plans to have more than 40 locations in the U.K., with an ambitious plans to open more than 50 such facilities across the country over the course of the next decade.
