ONLINE GROCER EVERLI ATTRACTS $100M TO AID EUROPEAN GROWTH
Online grocery platform Everli has received a $100 million in Series C funding, as it looks to expand its operations.
Led by Brussels-based private investment group, Verlinvest, the cash injection will help Everli – formerly known as Supermercato24 – launch its web-based grocery shopping services in new markets.
Verlinvest was advised in its investment in the Series C financing by the law firm White & Case, the latter said in a statement. According to reports, this round of funding also involved Luxor, DN Capital, C4 Ventures, and Convivialité Ventures.
Since it was founded in Italy in 2014, Everli has forged partnerships with major European grocery brands, among them Carrefour, Lidl and Kaufland.
The company offers shoppers in 70 cities in the Czech Republic, France, Italy and Poland a choice of more than 300,000 products, with orders being made through the company’s website or mobile app.
As the company expanded and online grocery sales soared last year, in part because of the pandemic, Everli, saw its sales reach €110.8 million, which is almost four times the figure of 2019.
In a statement Everli CEO, Federico Sagenti, said: “The shift to online delivery is not reversing, and expectations on all sides are only increasing.
“We have built a model which we believe offers unparalleled value to consumers, through wide access to the retailers and products they love, even in less urban areas, and to retailers, who are now able to affordably compete online and reach a whole new consumer base.”
Echoing this, Verlinvest’s executive director, Simone Sallustio, said in a statement that a “consumer revolution” was underway, with grocery shoppers “massively and durably shifting online”.
“We are proud to be rewriting the rules of the grocery industry together with Everli,” he added. “Everli combines its tech and data excellence with the grocery retail experience of its partners, and this combination provides it with the perfect position to cement itself as the European eGrocery market leader.”
Everli allows customers to order from local supermarkets and have the products picked and delivered the same day, with customers paying a fee for the delivery.
The company said that the way that it uses the existing infrastructure of supermarkets allows it to cover a much wider geographical area. This, according to Everli, offers advantages over other online grocery retail models, such as the use of “dark store” warehouses that are exclusively for online delivery.
Under its former name of Supermercato24, Everli expanded into Poland in October 2019 when it bought the Polish grocery delivery service Szopi. The latter’s platform was merged into that of Everli the following year.
Online sales boosted by pandemic
The recent increases in turnover enjoyed by Everli reflect the wider growth in online retail driven both by the pandemic and technological change.
Reports indicate that the UK online grocery retailer Ocado, for example, enjoyed a 40% jump in sales over the Christmas and new year periods.
Similarly, a report recently released by Adobe suggested that online spending of all kinds in the United States is set to increase significantly in the coming two years after having jumped 43% last year.
The US has seen a 34% increase in all online spending in the first two months of this year compared to the same period in 2020.
Adobe expects total web sales in the US to be between $850 and $930 million for the whole of 2021, and to reach $1 trillion in 2022.
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