Nadya Eka Lestari
TechInAfrica — Turkish fast-delivery service startup, Getir has addressed the problem with traffic congestion and recently eyeing on abroad expansion after closing a $38-million deal from Silicon Valley.
Started in 2015, Getir’s latest $38-million Series A deal marks the highest first step for a company in history, setting off a wave of excitement throughout the Turkish entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The fast delivery service app received a total of $38 million in investment from a group of investors led by Silicon Valley’s Michael Moritz, himself leading the investment with an injection of $25 million through Crankstart’s investment fund.
Following Moritz, a number of investors from Brazil and Turkey have provided an additional $13 million in funding. Getir has completed its Series A tour with a total investment of $38 million, potentially paving the way for its $1 billion “unicorn” valuation.
The startup founder, Nazım Salur said, “The way to save time and comfort in big metropolitan areas with traffic problems is through Getir. Our application solves problems in cities with traffic problems. Therefore, we have identified a number of major metropolises outside Istanbul. If you come at problems with the right solution, it is impossible for people not to respond.”
The Getir algorithm allows users to access a cloud of goods and basic needs in every city and region and request super-fast deployment from stock warehouses located across key areas.
Taking from Salur’s taxi app, BiTaksi, the map manifested itself as Getir in 2015.
He claims the group saw the potential of the project from the very beginning, backing it with investment at the moment of inception. “Given some of the most affected cities love us, we now aspire to places such as London and Paris. We are planning to move into Sao Paulo, Brazil, which is very similar to our city and a place investors seek our presence. We will use these investments for our global ventures. But I must say we are still in the early stage,” he added.
Upon the completion of round A, it was also announced that Getir quickly sparked negotiations to form a new $100 million fund for round B. It is stated that this additional investment will be used to accelerate domestic growth, as well as to expand to foreign markets.
Serkan Ünsal, the founder of Startups.watch, which specialized in monitoring statistics and developments in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, said, “The investment that Getir has received boosts the morale of the entire ecosystem. It is especially good to see that foreign investors can invest in Turkey without hesitation when they see a good product,”
“With the completion of the investment at the end of 2019 and around $38 million being pumped in, our total investment for 2019 increased significantly, giving Turkey an advantage in terms of investment competition in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. In fact, we should not be surprised by this development because one of the two biggest areas in terms of investment last year centered around digital market/market distribution startups (the other being mobility). Both consumer interest and interest of the entrepreneurial ecosystem has focused on those areas, as confirmed by growth statistics. In mid-December, Nazim Salur announced that the group was handling around 58,000 orders per day, compared to 52,000 in early December,” Ünsal added.
Source: dailysabah.com
