Brief: Czech e-grocer Rohlik raises $119m to join unicorn club three months after $238m round

• Rohlik, a Prague-based startup offering on-demand delivery of groceries, has raised  €100 million ($119 million) in a Series C round that values the business at €1 billion ($1.2 billion.)
• Index Ventures led the round, with participation from other earlier investors including Partech and Quadrille Capital.
• The Czech platform buys its stock wholesale from large suppliers and distributors, and also partners with smaller businesses to add local products to its 17,000-plus selection – fulfilling its users’ orders within two hours.

Why it matters:

Rohlik’s Series B round saw it raise $230 million just three months ago from Index Ventures and other investors.

The reason for the rapid fundraise is to strike while the iron is hot and put the gas on expansion, Founder and CEO Tomáš Čupr told TechCrunch that the company decided to quickly raise a new round after its Series B in order to rapidly accelerate its international expansion.

Rohlik has already launched in Austria and Hungary and now has it sights set on Germany, followed by France, Italy, Romania, and Spain.

Despite a boost in online shopping during the earlier part of the Covid-19 pandemic, European startups in the eGrocery category actually saw more muted funding activity in 2020 compared to previous years, according to AgFunder‘s Europe 2021 Agrifoodtech Investment Report released last month.