Agility is essential for a startup that promises to deliver its customers’ orders in 15 minutes. Apparently, JOKR also takes this agility in negotiating its funding rounds. In less than a year of operations, the company announces, in partnership with its Brazilian partner, Daki, the closing of a $ 260 million Series B.
The new round, disclosed to the market this Thursday (2), makes the pair enter the unicorns club (startups with an evaluation of more than US$ 1 billion). Today, the group as a whole is worth US$1.2 billion.
The round has the participation of investors Activant Capital, Balderton, Greycroft, G-Squared, HV Capital, Kaszek, Mirae Asset, Monashees, Moving Capital, Tiger Global, among others. With the capital, Daki should boost its expansion in Brazil, while the JOKR brand targets the markets of Latin America and the United States.
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For Ralf Wenzel, CEO and one of the founders of JOKR, which already operates in 15 cities around the world with more than 200 stores spread out, the new investment came in record time due to the experience delivered by the startup.
“We are very proud of what we’ve built with JOKR and Daki, and today’s announcement is further proof of how we’ve managed to reshape an entire industry in just a few months. Today we are part of people’s daily lives. Our customers in Brazil, Latin America, and the US love our ultra-fast groceries delivery offering, with GMV [Gross Merchandise Volume] growing by an average of 15% every week,” says the entrepreneur.
Fast deliveries and profitability
Based in New York, JOKR merged with Brazilian startup Daki in 2021. In Brazil, operations are controlled by Daki, which acts as a subsidiary. The startup already has more than 60 stores in cities like São Paulo, Campinas, Guarulhos, Rio de Janeiro and Niterói.
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The platform reports a growth of 933% in the last quarter. With the investment, the idea is to reach more capital: Belo Horizonte should be one of the first, with more cities receiving the service at the beginning of 2022. Before completing one year, the company plans to reach 100 stores in the country.
“It is a great pleasure to have such important global companies investing in us, it just shows that we are going the right way, growing with speed, but mainly with quality. This new round came to further accelerate our expansion in the country and fulfill our objective of revolutionizing the population’s habit of shopping in the market, making retail more and more spontaneous and practical. I am very proud of what we are building, the team we have built, and what we have achieved”, comments Rafael Vasto, CEO, and co-founder of Daki.
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The new unicorn also has a focus — shared by JORK and Daki — on making their businesses profitable with the same speed of delivery. “We’ve been thinking about profitability since we started the business. It is something that we are managing and one of the points that make our business attractive for this type of investment round”, explains Vasto.
The startup follows a vertical model, that is, with its own store, stock, and buyers, in addition to dedicated delivery personnel. Thus, Daki can guarantee the best customer experience, as it has control of the entire purchase process, enabling delivery in up to 15 minutes, free of charge and without errors. And, in addition, it also controls gains by reducing the number of intermediaries in transactions.
