PRAGUE, Czech Republic, July 1, 2021
- Rohlik Group, with its HQ in the Czech Republic and a customer promise to deliver quality groceries and more than 17 000 “everyday” items in as little as 2 hours, has raised €100 million in Series C funding, with a valuation of €1 billion, making it a start-up unicorn.
- The investment will enable Rohlik Group to continue investing in developing the best proposition for customers, to deploy tech innovations and to accelerate international expansion.
- The round is led by Index Ventures, with existing investors participating.
Rohlik Group ("Rohlik"), one of Europe’s leading online grocery delivery businesses with revenue exceeding €300 million in 2020, provides more than 750,000 customers across 3 international markets with fast and precise home deliveries of high-quality groceries. Moreover it has announced that it has raised €100M in a Series C funding round led by Index Ventures. Rohlik joins a select club of fastest-growing European startups to achieve "unicorn" status with a valuation of over $1 billion.
This investment reflects strong demand from existing shareholders to invest in the company, which has grown from a formerly Czech start-up into a European trend-setting technology leader with a growing presence across the continent. Having already successfully expanded to Hungary and Austria, it will be launching in Munich in the coming months, with other German cities and European countries to quickly follow, reflecting the significant growth potential and accelerating adoption by consumers of online grocery purchases.
Rohlik Group is quickly growing to be Europe's leading online grocery delivery service. Founded in 2014 with the vision to elevate the standards of food quality and service in the grocery industry, founder Tomáš Čupr believes that customers deserve to eat better food and have it delivered to their homes with a superb quality of service. The company’s obsession regarding customer experience is reflected in every step of the order; from the broad and unique assortment, with more than 17,000 items to choose from, to the superior delivery experience. Rohlik delivers as quickly as within two hours of placing an order with a stunning precision of 15-minute delivery windows. Rohlik also offers its customers its own brands of dairy and meat, with other product segments to follow. The company is not focused on delivering a small basket, like some other players in the market, but on fulfilling the daily and varied needs of families in Europe. With this unique proposition, Rohlik is aspiring to become a prominent example of a new 21st century retailer.
Tomáš Čupr, founder and CEO of The Rohlik Group, said: “We announced the first round of financing at the beginning of March, where we raised €190 million. After three months, we received additional funding led by Index Ventures. This investment shows our investors’ confidence in Rohlik Group’s fast growth. We are now perceived as a European company able to scale quickly in the very demanding Western European markets. The newly secured funding helps us to accelerate even faster than originally intended, mainly in the areas of new market entries, fulfilment centre automation and the overall pace of innovation, including hiring great talent.”
With this latest funding round, Rohlik becomes the latest European unicorn and one of the first from the Czech Republic. The money raised will be used to drive further growth and enhancements to services for customers, the deployment of tech innovations and rapid expansion both within existing European markets as well as to launch in Germany and other international markets. In the near future, Rohlik's passion for helping Europeans eat better and live happier lives will thus spread to Romania, Italy, France and Spain with the goal of becoming the leading European player.
“We are always focused on developing the best proposition for customers,” explained Čupr, adding: “This investment helps us to continue to innovate, developing new tech tools to accelerate the food industry and bring about a digital revolution. The goal is to extend choice for our customers, bringing them the food they love via fresh food from local farmers and artisans, delivered at the quality they envisage. Our shareholders see the intrinsic opportunity and growth potential ahead of us with this supplier-friendly and customer-centric approach.”
Jan Hammer, Partner at Index Ventures, commented: “Rohlik, which is already profitable in its largest market, is experiencing strong growth in new regions and is outperforming across all metrics. Its unique model, which marries convenience with a full assortment of products, from essential value items to high quality local produce, is proving to be a winning formula.”
About Rohlik Group
Founded in 2014 in the Czech Republic, Rohlik Group is one of Europe's leading online grocery delivery services. Already active in the Czech Republic (Rohlik.cz), Hungary (Kifli.hu) and Austria (Gurkerl.at), the company will be launching in the coming months in Munich, Germany (Knuspr.de) with other large cities in Germany to follow quickly. Deploying world-leading technology & logistics to deliver a huge range of quality products (17,000 SKUs+), Rohlik companies offer a 15-minute delivery window with delivery as quick as within two hours of placing an order. The Rohlik family is a data-driven company in everything they do. By owning its end-to-end operations, including having all its technology in-house, Rohlik provides a superior customer experience and the freshest food from local farmers and artisans, as well as a broad supermarket selection. Rohlik turnover exceeded €300 million in 2020. It currently has 750,000 customers across three international markets.
For more information visit www.rohlik.group
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About Index Ventures
Global venture capital firm Index Ventures is the backer of food and logistics start-ups such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Good Eggs, as well as other technology businesses such as Farfetch, Robinhood and Slack.
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development supports the development of the private sector and sustainable and inclusive growth through a combination of investment and policy reforms. Established in 1991, the Bank started its operations in Central and Eastern Europe and today has grown to work in 38 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. The EBRD is an international financial institution with global ownership comprising 69 countries as well as the EU and the EIB.
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A Private Bank, which, since 1998, has offered its services and advice in the field of multigenerational asset management and succession, investment, securities trading, asset management and structuring and life-style management services. In addition to comprehensive family office and private banking services, the Bank provides specialised financing in the area of real estate and corporate acquisitions. In addition to the Czech Republic, J&T Banka operates in Slovakia, Russia and Croatia.
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