Flink SE is a German on-demand delivery service that delivers everyday items directly to consumers from called "dark stores", hyper-local grocery warehouses not accessible to the public. Flink promises to deliver groceries "in 10 minutes".[1] Deliveries are made by Flink's employees on e-bikes, provided by the company. They currently operate in Germany and the Netherlands. [2]
 | |
| Company type | Societas Europaea (SE) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2020 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people |
|
Number of employees | 12,000 (2021) |
| Website | goflink |
Flink is the largest third-party delivery service in Europe, having surpassed Gorillas in 2021. The company said in 2021 that it delivered to up to 10 million customers at over 140 locations in more than 60 cities in Europe.[3]
History
editFlink was founded at the end of 2020 in Berlin by Christoph Cordes, Oliver Merkel Julian Dames, Saad Saeed and Nikolas Bullwinkel[4] as a start-up. Flink has raised around 750 million US dollars in financing rounds, including from the investor group around DoorDash and from REWE. Flink's first round in February 2021 was led by Cherry Ventures, Northzone, and Target Global.[5] By the end of 2021, Flink was valued at US$2.1 billion.[6]
In 2022, the smaller French competitor Cajoo, number two in France with six million customers in Paris and the eight next largest cities, was taken over. Flink claimed to have become the market leader in the country. As part of the takeover, the Carrefour trading group, which had a stake in Cajoo, became a shareholder in Flink and an exclusive partner in the French market. Flink took over employees and all of Cajoo's warehouses, which are of crucial importance to the company due to their central location, for around 100 million euros.[7]
In April 2024, the French subsidiary filed for bankruptcy.[8] Flink had previously withdrawn from Austria in December 2022.[9]
References
edit- ^ "Groceries delivered in 10 minutes | Flink". 2022-04-15. Archived from the original on 2022-04-15. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
- ^ "Lieferdienst Flink startet in Wiesbaden". www.fr.de (in German). 8 April 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
- ^ Kluge, Christoph (2021-12-10). "Berliner Lieferdienst Flink bekommt 750 Millionen Dollar von Investoren". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
- ^ "Flink". Northzone. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
- ^ Levingston, Ivan (2021-06-04). "Grocery Startups Raise $795 Million in Rapid-Shopping Boom". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
- ^ Räth, Georg (2021-09-23). "2-Milliarden-Bewertung: Doordash hat in Flink investiert". Business Insider (in German). Retrieved 2022-04-15.
- ^ "Handelsblatt". www.handelsblatt.com. Retrieved 2024-02-08.
- ^ "La plateforme de livraison de courses à domicile Flink va être liquidée en France". Le Figaro (in French). 18 April 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
- ^ https://www.derstandard.de/consent/tcf/story/2000141611849/lebensmittel-lieferdienst-flink-austria-insolvent