Sifted - Speedy grocery: What’s left?

Good morning there,

On Monday, speedy grocery company Getir announced its retreat from every market except its founding country, Turkey. It marks the latest low point in the quick commerce VC saga that saw a meteoric rise — and a similarly rapid descent. Today, we’re digging into the overblown investor hype and asking what remains of the sector in Europe.

Elsewhere, we’re looking into the rise of scaleup employees cashing out their stock options years before an exit, three former Revolut staffers have raised a $6.5m round for a crypto exchange for professional traders and Sequoia's VP of talent Zoe Hewitt shares advice on how to become a product manager.

— Kai Nicol-Schwarz, reporter

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Speedy grocery: What's left?

The startup and VC industry loves taking pleasure in others’ pain. That was never more evident than this week, as Turkish speedy delivery company Getir announced it was pulling out of Europe and the US to focus solely on its home market.

The news came less than two years after the company acquired German rival Gorillas, in a bid to win market share and brand awareness on the continent. The end of Getir in Europe means the $1.3bn that VCs piled into Gorillas has effectively gone up in smoke, a fact that many delighted in after I posted the news on LinkedIn.

“There has to be a better way to set money on fire than this,” one commented. 

“There needs to be a new culture around investing. Understatement of the decade,” said another.

The hand-wringing is, in many ways, justified. For a long time, people have been pointing out that the unit economics of biking bananas to consumers within 10 minutes doesn't add up — with inefficient delivery routes compounding the high costs of running inner city warehouses.

The list of VCs that have thrown money into the sector reads like a who’s who of tech investment firms: Tiger Global, Sequoia, Accel, Coatue, SoftBank, G Squared, Tencent and Mubadala all got involved.

They were sold the promise that the total addressable market for groceries — which primarily remains an offline business — would make quick commerce platforms profitable at scale. That logic was mixed in with a potent cocktail of futurism and ambition from the founders who launched these businesses.

“If you go to the fucking moon, you shouldn't go to the supermarket. We have the technology to go to space and we’re still going to the supermarket? This is counterintuitive,” Gorillas founder and CEO Kağan Sümer proclaimed in 2021 when he launched the startup.

Online grocery shopping is still a very solid business proposition. Players like Czech scaleup Rohlik are posting a profit, while newer startups like Amsterdam-founded Crisp are still raising chunky rounds. 

What do they have in common? Their groceries take longer than 10 minutes to be delivered, and — for most of us — that seems to be an acceptable time to wait.

A couple of weeks ago I was reflecting on the speedy grocery bubble bursting with a friend and former VC, who compared it to the demise of luxury e-bike company VanMoof. 

“There are a lot of VCs who just don’t understand regular people,” they told me. “They’re backing products that make sense to them, but might not to a lot of people out there.”

Perhaps the burning need to have groceries delivered to your door within 10 minutes falls into that category.

— Tim Smith, newsletter editor

• The new investment fund, in combination with €160m government funding into quantum and other institutional grants, means that Denmark’s per capita investment in quantum technology is the highest in the world, according to Novo Holdings.

₿ Three former Revolut employees have raised a $6.5m round to build X10, a new crypto exchange for professional traders. Tioga Capital led the raise, with participation from Semantic Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Starkware and Cyber Fund. 

• The funding round is X10’s first as it emerges from stealth to address a gap in the market that crypto exchange FTX — founded by the jailed Sam Bankman-Fried – once occupied.

💰 For many European startup employees, stock option plans remain an abstract benefit, particularly in today’s sluggish IPO market where it’s harder than ever to see paper wealth turning into real money.

That’s why the sale of employee shares on the secondaries market, years before an exit, could be a powerful tool to show workers the actual value of their equity. Scaleups, in particular, are increasingly experimenting with the idea.       

😬 Startup accelerator Techstars has had a tough year — and a new TechCrunch report digs into internal divisions, layoffs, staff turnover and financial losses. 

• Troubles at the accelerator began hitting the headlines during the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last spring. Techstars abruptly closed its Sweden programme right as it was starting, as Sifted reported. 
• Techstars hasn't returned Sifted’s request for comment on the TechCrunch report. 

👀 How can I become a product manager? Sequoia's VP of talent Zoe Hewitt shares her advice for those considering pivoting into a role in a product team.

Copernhagen-based Ageras, which provides accounting software to SMEs, raised €82m in funding from investors including Investcorp, Lazard Asset Management, Formueforvalterne Investering & Tryghed and Folketrygdfondet.

Utrecht, Netherlands-based Vitestro, which is developing a robotic blood drawing device, raised $22m in funding. Sonder Capital and NYBC Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Invest-NL and the EIC Fund. 

Paris-based Carbonfact, a carbon accounting platform for the fashion industry, raised $15m in Series A funding. Alven led the round and was joined by investors Headline and Y Combinator.

Oxford, UK-based Infinitopes, which is developing cancer vaccines, raised £12.8m in seed funding. Octopus Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Cancer Research Horizons, CRIS Cancer Foundation, Kindred Capital, Manta Ray, Marlet Capital, Meltwind Advisory, Saras Capital and Wilbe Capital. 

London-based Jigsaw, a data visualisation tool for companies to create diagrams for their corporate transactions and structures, raised $15m in Series A funding. Exor Ventures led the round.

London-based Urban Jungle, a home insurance provider, raised £11.2m in funding from investors including Sony Innovation Fund.

Glasgow, Scotland-based Nebu~Flow, which is developing devices for patients to take respiratory drugs, raised $5.9m in funding. SCVC led the round and was joined by Scottish Enterprise, Foresight WAE Technology, SIS Ventures, Ascension and Conduit EIS Impact Fund.

Dublin-based Ceartas DMCA, an AI tool for brands and content creators to monitor copyright infringement and content leaks, raised $4.5m in seed funding. Earlybird Venture Capital and Upside led the round. 

Ede, Netherlands-based MindAffect, which develops diagnostic systems for vision, hearing and brain health, raised €1.1m in Series A funding from investors including Barco Limpo, Wasteland Investment and the NLC Health Impact Fund.

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