Venture-backed grocery companies have raised $10 billion so far in 2021, according to data from Pitchbook, reports CNBC. This number surpasses the $7 billion in funds raised last year.
In the U.S., funding rounds helped Instacart and Gopuff achieve valuations of $39 billion and $8.9 billion, respectively. In China, Xingsheng Youxuan raised $3 billion this year, the largest funding round for a grocery startup to date. European startups like Getir, Gorillas, Weezy, Flink, Zapp, and Dija have also gained traction.
However, some experts believe the increasingly crowded space will experience a wave of consolidation.
“The amount of money that’s being put against this opportunity is grossly disproportionate to the size of the opportunity,” Luke Jensen, CEO of Ocado Solutions, a unit of U.K. grocery tech pioneer Ocado, told CNBC. “I suspect there will inevitably be a lot of consolidation among these players.” Full Story
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Image: Instacart