- Finland’s Wolt has raised $530 million in a funding round led by ICONIQ Growth.
- Existing investors 83North, EQT Ventures, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Highland Europe, and Vintage Investment Partners also participated alongside new investors Coatue Management, DST, EQT Growth, KKR, Tiger Global, and Prosus Ventures – a VC unit of Naspers.
- In a statement, co-founder and CEO Miki Kuusi said the app tripled its revenue to $345 million against a net loss of $45 million in 2020. “We raised this round [to] further strengthen our balance sheet, [to] think long-term and double down on building even stronger positions across our markets while continuing to expand our offering beyond the restaurant.”
Why it matters:
The app launched in 2015, offering on-demand meal delivery from 10 restaurants in Helsinki. Since then it has expanded to over 30,000 restaurants across 129 cities in 23 countries – most recently, Germany and Japan.
Like many other restaurant delivery apps, Wolt pivoted to additional on-demand services in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw many foodservice establishments shuttered under lockdown restrictions and consumer concerns. Among other things, it now delivers groceries, cosmetics, pet food, and medical supplies on demand to users’ homes or workplaces.
Wolt’s $530 million raise is the latest in a flurry of big-ticket investments into food delivery startups since the beginning of the year. UK-based Deliveroo netted $180 million in the run-up to its planned IPO, while Spain’s Glovo raised $121 million and Turkey’s Getir grabbed $128 million.
