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Gorillas Bicycles (in Amsterdam): Delivery service apparently in financial difficulties
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PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW / REUTERS
The takeover negotiations of the fast delivery service Gorillas by the rival Getir are apparently close to completion.
The contract should be signed on Friday, wrote the "Handelsblatt" in its Wednesday edition, citing insiders.
In this context, Gorillas will receive bridge financing of 40 to 50 million euros.
Company boss Kağan Sümer will probably have to go - but will receive a substantial bonus.
According to the report, the entire management should receive around ten million euros, around half could go to Sümer and co-founder Ugur Samut.
In addition, both Gorillas and Getir would have to accept a significant devaluation.
As part of the deal, the companies would only be valued at seven billion dollars, half as much as before.
Gorillas declined to comment on the matter.
Getir was initially unavailable for comment.
Grocery delivery services had boomed during the pandemic.
As a result, gorillas achieved so-called unicorn status within a few months.
This is what stock market professionals use to describe those start-ups that are valued at more than one billion euros.
However, there is fierce cut-throat competition in the industry, which is also home to companies like Flink and Jokr.
In addition, companies are having trouble with rising prices and high personnel costs.
Gorillas competes with Getir in the UK, France and Germany, among others.
Getir is considered the market leader in Great Britain.
In Germany, however, the service has so far been represented in significantly fewer cities than Gorillas.
Job cuts in gorillas
Gorillas CEO Kağan Sümer had been trying unsuccessfully to complete a new round of financing for the high-deficit start-up since the end of last year.
Most recently, he had tried drastic measures to reduce the service's capital burn.
At the end of May, he fired around half of the employees at his headquarters and subsequently closed several locations in European countries such as Italy, Spain and Belgium.
Getir was founded in Istanbul in 2015.
The service closed $768 million in funding in March 2022, at a valuation of $11.8 billion.
Getir also continues to run a high deficit.
The company is expected to burn around $1.1 billion this year.
Experts expect further mergers and acquisitions in this sector.
There is only room for one or two providers in the market if the business is to pay off in the long term.
Sol/Reuters
