Delivery startup Gopuff to raise $1 bn at $15 bn valuation

US-based instant delivery startup Gopuff plans to raise $1 billion in a new funding round at $14 billion pre-money and $15 billion post-money valuation, according to the documents revealed by Prime Unicorn Index. (via TechCrunch).

The rising startup raised $380 million at $3.9 billion valuation in October 2020 and $1.15 billion at $8.9 billion valuation in March this year. 

The investors that took part in the Pennsylvania-based startup’s previous funding rounds include Fidelity Management and Research Company, Accel, D1 Capital Partners, Reinvent Capital, Baillie Gifford, Eldridge, Luxor Capital, and SoftBank.

Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Gopuff’s new investor Blackstone Group Inc. will take part in the upcoming funding round. 

If the company manages to hit its new $1 billion goal, it will have raised $2.5 billion in the last 10 months.

Founded in 2013 by Rafael Ilishayev and Yakir Gola, Gopuff currently operates in more than 650 cities in the United States allowing users to get food, drinks and thousands of items delivered to their homes in minutes. 

In February this year, sources close to the company said that the company was in talks to acquire Fancy Delivery. Rumours came out to be true and Gopuff announced the acquisition of the UK-based delivery platform in May.

The company also reportedly held acquisition talks with DJIA, another UK-based instant delivery company, but the discussions haven’t yielded any results yet. 

The ongoing pandemic has helped instant delivery companies grow at a rapid pace as millions of people around the world now prefer online solutions to meet their needs without leaving their homes.

This year alone, Turkish delivery company Getir raised $128 million at a $850 million valuation in January, $300M at a $2.6B valuation in February and $555M at $7.5B valuation last month. 

In addition, California based Instacart raised $265 million at a $39 billion valuation and  Italy-based Everli raised $100 million in Series C funding round in March while Indian food delivery firm Swiggy raised $800 million at around $5 billion valuation and Spanish food delivery app Glovo raised $528 million in April.