Next generation instant delivery platform JOKR announces $170M Series A

JUL 20, 2021

The round was led by GGV Capital, Balderton Capital and Tiger Global Management.

JOKR is a global platform for instant grocery and retail delivery at a hyper-local scale.

JOKR is led by the experienced team that created the online food ordering and delivery service foodpanda and helped steer the success of Delivery Hero.

Headquartered in New York, where it rolled out operations in early June 2021 and is already operating 10 hubs, JOKR plans to use the capital to fund its continued growth and its roll out of operations across additional cities in the U.S., Latin America and Europe. Since starting operations, JOKR has opened roughly one hub per day in an ever-expanding list of cities, including New York City, São Paolo, Mexico City, Warsaw and Vienna.

JOKR currently operates 100 hubs worldwide, with overall order volume at JOKR doubling roughly every two weeks.

The investment we announced today will empower us to continue our expansion at an unprecedented rate as we continue to build JOKR into the premier platform for a new generation of online shopping, with instant delivery, a focus on local product offerings and more sustainable delivery and supply chains. We are proud to be able to partner with such a distinguished group of international tech investors to help us seize the enormous opportunity in front of us.

Ralf Wenzel, Founder and CEO of JOKR

Customers worldwide are offered delivery of a broad assortment of grocery and retail items to their doorstep within less than 15 minutes.

We are incredibly excited to be backing a team that has such an unprecedented track record of starting and running highly operational businesses like JOKR. Balderton has twenty years of experience backing unicorns in Europe and JOKR is one of the fastest-growing companies we have ever seen. It was crucial for us to invest in a company with a strong focus on sustainable practices, and we are really impressed by JOKR’s unique model of partnering with local businesses wherever it operates.

Suranga Chandratillake, General Partner at Balderton

JOKR is addressing a global market of $8T+ in the grocery and retail space, of which only ~3% is currently online

JOKR is addressing a global market of more than $8 trillion in the grocery and retail space, of which only about 3% is currently online, presenting an enormous opportunity for the Company’s platform.

The platform also enables small local businesses to sell their goods via the platform, and currently, more than half of all ordered goods are sourced from local businesses. The inclusion of these local businesses empowers them to expand their reach, while eliminating the need to set up complex logistics and delivery networks on their own. This access to JOKR’s technology and network that is provided to them enables JOKR’s vision of democratizing retail around the globe, while also making it more sustainable – both ecologically and economically.

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