If you thought a global pandemic, potentially disruptive economic collapse or a tumultuous election would have slowed the investment in the food and mobility space, you’d be wrong.
GoPuff announced another venture round on October 8. The delivery-only convenience store, that we just happened to test in our C-store trial, raised another $380 million in a round led by Accel and D1 Capital Partners (both are new round leaders for the company, though Accel invested in prior rounds). The sixth round of investment puts the total raised for the company at $1.2 billion and a valuation of $3.9 billion.
The investment comes as the company reaches a big milestone: operations in 500 U.S. cities. Founders said they are keenly focused on finical discipline. Pitch Book currently says they’re generating revenue, but aren’t profitable quite yet.
On the very same day as the GoPuff announcement, Instacart also announced another $200 million round of funding.
The round, also lead by D1 Capital Partners along with the Valiant Peregrine Fund, marks the 14th round for the company. The $2.4 billion raised by Instacart thus far values it at $17.7 billion. And it marks the third big cash infusion since the pandemic started. The company also raised $225 million in June and $100 million in July. That adds up to a more than $500 million bet on the company and the surge of new COVID-era users. Some big names like T. Rowe Price and Genera Catalyst clearly think some of those new folks are going to stick with grocery delivery.
Thriver, a “food and culture” company that provides meals for office staff and things like yoga and discussions also grabbed some money. Even without a lot of office business, the wellness company picked up $33 million in August. Like everyone, the company pivoted to virtual events ahead of the investment to keep up the culture even for at-home workers. The company has now raised $53 million in total.
As we covered previously, Slice also raised some serious money. It grabbed $43 million in May. Founder Ilir Sela was also on our Podcast, go check that out for more about the company and how they’re thriving during the pandemic.
Asian food delivery and discovery site Zomato also got a nice boost in September. The company raised $166 million to extend mostly Asian operations. The round was led by delivery usual suspect, Tiger Global Management. In all, the company has raised $1.1 billion and now carries a $4.5 billion valuation.
The list goes on, but all this money pouring into the segment says one thing very loud: investors still see this as a growing industry and they’re willing to bet serious money on that.
