US food delivery company DoorDash is backing a new funding round at quick-delivery company Flink that values the Berlin-based startup at $2.5 billion, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The $600 million capital call follows a $240 million fund raising in June at Flink. The company, founded at the turn of the year, specialises in delivering groceries within minutes of a customer placing an order on a smartphone app.
Flink competes with other upstart companies like Gorillas and Getir in an increasingly crowded marketplace for so-called 'quick commerce', where growth is explosive but profits have so far yet to materialise.
A Period Of Consolidation
At the same time, more established food delivery players, like DoorDash or Germany's Delivery Hero, are becoming more acquisitive amid signs the industry could enter a period of consolidation.
Flink's Series A funding round in June was led by Dutch-based consumer internet investor Prosus, San Francisco technology investor BOND, and Mubadala Capital, which is part of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund.
The sources familiar with Flink's latest funding round said that these existing investors had also chipped in.
Flink declined to comment while DoorDash was not immediately available for comment outside US office hours. Bloomberg first reported that DoorDash was backing Flink although its report put a lower company valuation of $2.1 billion on the round.
In May of this year, drugstore company Walgreens Boots Alliance said it will partner with DoorDash Inc, Uber Technologies Inc and others to launch same-day delivery - in under two hours - for retail products in the United States.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM. For more Technology news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
