Spanish food delivery app Glovo raises $528M to expand its Q-Commerce unit

Spanish food delivery app Glovo has raised 450 million euros ($528 million) in a Series F funding round led by Lugard Road Capital and Luxor Capital Group. Delivery Hero, Drake Enterprises and GP Bullhound also participated in the round. It is the largest-ever round raised by a Spanish startup. 

Glovo plans to use the funds to expand its Q-Commerce unit, responsible for the delivery of items within 30 minutes. The company says it can deliver items within 10 minutes in the biggest cities it operates, using Q-Commerce network. It also plans to hire up to 200 engineers to work both in headquarters in Barcelona and hubs in Poland, Madrid, and Warsaw, and to have 200 darks stores by the end of 2021, up from around 20 at the beginning of 2021. 

“We’re thrilled to have the continued backing of Luxor Capital Group and all of our existing investors. Over the last few months, we’ve moved very, very quickly but our vision remains unchanged,” said Oscar Pierre, Glovo’s other co-founder and CEO, in a statement. “This investment will allow us to double-down in our core markets, accelerate our leadership position in places where we are already very strong and continue to expand our excellent Q-Commerce division, as well as bring new innovations to our unique multi-category offering to extend more choice to our customers.”

Glovo didn’t disclose its valuation but according to people familiar with the matter the company’s valuation reached to $2.34 billion. Back in December 2019 when it raised 150 million euros in Series E, it had reached “unicorn status” with an over $1 billion valuation. 

Food and on-demand grocery delivery platforms have been so hot with investments and IPOs right now. Just in the last week, Turkish delivery company Getir raised $300 million at a $2.6B valuation, two months after it raised $128M at a $850 million valuation. Italy-based online grocery shopping platform Everli raised a $ 100 million Series C a couple of days ago. 

Deliveroo announced recently pricing of £3.90 per share when it goes public on the London Stock Exchange, valuing the company with a market cap of £7.59 billion ($10.4 billion), and raising £1.50 billion ($2.1 billion). 

Earlier in March, sources familiar with the matter also said that Instacart is considering going public via a direct listing, a couple of days after it secured $ 265 million in a new funding round from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners and other existing investors. The company’s valuation reached $ 39 billion with the new investment.