20 Things You Didn’t Know About Glovo
Glovo is a company that specializes in providing convenient services for its customers which includes purchase, pick up, and delivery of requested products. Food delivery is the most popular service that is requested by consumers, but Glovo offers courier services for a variety of different products. To help you become more familiar with this successful new startup, here are 20 things you didn’t know about Glovo.
1. Glovo is a Spanish business
Glovo was founded in Barcelona, Spain. The co-founders of this very successful business are Oscar Pierre and Sacha Michaud. Pierre currently serves as the chief executive officer of the company. Glovo commenced its operations in 2015 and has only been in business for a little over four years.
2. Glovo is a part of a new trend in business
In recent years there has been a surge of new business startups that have been using the uberization platform to offer products and services to the general public. Glovo is just one of many new startups that provide on-demand courier services. It’s a new trend in business that is paying off for many new businesses because these companies are offering services that are in high demand.
3. Glovo is available through a mobile app
In keeping with the most current technology available, Glovo offers urban services that are easy to access through the smartphone application developed for the company. Smartphone users have the ability to order the purchase, pickup and delivery of groceries, pharmacy items, and just about anything else that you can imagine in an on-demand platform from wherever they happen to be. Services can be requested from any connected device which makes it very convenient. Glovo maintains the most up to date technology to serve its customers.
4. Goods are delivered directly to your doorstep, but more is on the horizon
The majority of Glovo’s customers use the service to get food delivery from their favorite restaurants, and this platform is the flagship service of Glovo, but they are also experimenting with Grocery Dark stores and CloudKitchens. Glovo has experienced a tremendous level of growth and success and they are looking for ways to expand the services that are provided to expand yet further, and move into other areas of providing goods and services.
5. Glovo has gone international
As of the summer of 2019, Glovo has expanded into over 20 different countries throughout the world. The business started in Barcelona, Spain, but quickly spread to other areas. They opened a service in Brazil and Chile, but these locations were discontinued, however, Glovo is thriving in other areas. These include The Caribbean, in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, in the South American countries of Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina, throughout Africa in Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Cote d’Ivoire. Glovo is in the Asian countries of Turkey and Kazakhstan, in the Central American countries of Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Guatemala, and in the European countries of Croatia, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, France, Portugal, Italy, and Spain.
6. Glovo offers comprehensive coverage
Another attribute of Glovo that has helped it to achieve such rapid growth is that the courier offers services that cater to everyone living within the cities that it operates within. As of the last accounting, Glovo is in operation in 248 cities throughout the world. Deliveries are made at all hours of the day with 24-hour services 7 days a week. The company delivers more than forty-million orders each year.
7. Glovo is currently hiring
Glovo has a unique vision that extends to its customer base and to the workers to fill consumer orders. Glovo has an advertisement listed on LinkedIn that promises workers the job of their lives. What makes the company so unique is that a goal is to make the work challenging and fun. Workers have access to advanced technology to make it easier to deliver the best possible services to their customers and to have an enjoyable time while they’re doing it.
8. Glovo is backed by Abu Dhabi funding
Glovo has not had to worry about financing its operations and expansions. There have been plenty of big investment companies that saw the potential in the business to thrive and to provide a decent return on investment. A round of funding resulted in $150 million raised, led by Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund.
9. Glovo is making good use of funds raised
Glovo’s recent round of fundraising provided the capital for the company to further expand operations throughout the world. Glovo executives have committed the funding for the case of hiring 300 new workers to expand services to yet more cities in countries throughout the world. The positions that they plan to bring on board are mostly in the area of developers and engineers and the plans are to have them on board by the middle of 2020.
10. Glovo made an acquisition to ramp up its Poland operation
Glovo had a strategic plan for entering the country of Poland with its services. It acquired Pizza Portal, which is a local operator in Poland to establish the company, and expand upon that. After making the purchase, Glovo committed itself to hire 50 technicians and product experts along with 40 engineers who are all stationed at the new Warsaw office.
11. Glovo has ample financial backing
In addition to the Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala, other investors have joined in the fundraising efforts for expansion. Mubadala is joined by the early Spotify investor Lakestar, which is a European venture capital firm. Also supporting financing efforts are Drake Enterprises, a Swiss investment company, and Delivery Hero of Germany.
12. Glovo has reached unicorn status
In recent years there has been a growing number of unicorn companies throughout Europe. Glovo joined this exclusive group after being in business for just four years. Glovo passed the $1 billion valuation mark. With all of the similar companies offering courier services throughout Europe, Glovo has surged ahead, holding its own and taking its share of the market thanks to a typical delivery time of just 30 minutes.
13. Rumors of cash shortage debunked
The recent rumors of Glovo running out of money have been addressed by the CEO, Oscar Pierre. As with any new company that is just four years into its infancy, Glovo has achieved a remarkable goal and in the home country of Spain, it has become profitable in operations. While there are still losses being incurred in other countries of operation, this is simply the cost of doing business and you must spend money to make money. The fact that Glovo is making a profit in Spain at this point is phenomenal and it is a portent of things to come. There is no shortage of cash flow in the company and Pierre quickly put these rumors to rest.
14. There is no IPO on the horizon
When asked if there were any plans to take Glovo public, Oscar Pierre was direct and to the point. The company is running on schedule with strategic plans and there is enough private venture capital backing to provide for all of the funding requirements to continue on the projected path. Pierre shared that when it comes to an IPO it is not something that any of them have considered or even thought about. He further shared that it’s not on the priority list for Glovo. After seeing the disaster that the action created for some other companies within the same industry, it is clear that going public can actually decrease the valuation of a company so it’s a risk that there is no good reason to take.
15. Glovo is capitalizing on the verticals market
Although grocery delivery service is nothing new, it is something that is beginning to take the form of a new trend for the homebound and for those who are simply too busy to go out and do their own shopping. Glovo is making most of its money on orders for take-out food, and especially from McDonald’s orders in Spain. This puts it in competition with all of the other food delivery services, but one thing about Glovo that makes them stand out from the crowd is the fact that they also deliver verticals. If you need something from the pharmacy, from teh grocery store, or from other vendors, delivery is promised within minutes and this is generally within 30 minutes, but you can opt for later scheduled delivery times as well.
16. Other investors have come on board
Glovo is an attractive company for venture capital investors because of its current level of success and plans for further expansion. It’s a potential moneymaker that could continue to spread throughout the world. Leading investors have been joined by others who see its great potential. These include Rakuten Capital, Cathay Innovation, Seaya Ventures, Korelya Capital, and Idinvest Partners.
17. Glovo operates on a unique business model
There are currently more than one thousand people employed with Glovo. Four hundred of them are employed at the headquarters located in Barcelona, Spain. Approximately 35,000 active workers are couriers who are going out and making the deliveries. Each courier is considered to be a contracted worker who is self-employed. It works a lot like Uber and other companies when it comes to those who are actually out in the field. There are a lot of people behind the scenes running the operations at the established bases for the company.
18. Glovo is in the process of creating “Dark Supermarkets”
If you haven’t yet heard the term Dark Supermarket you’re not alone. Dark stores are fulfillment centers created by Glovo in cooperation with a variety of grocery store chains. This makes it possible for Glovo to offer 24-hour grocery deliveries to its customers seven days a week. Glovo maintains a crew of workers on hand to pick the requested items, purchase them, and prepare them for delivery, much like Amazon.com fulfills customer orders. These dark stores are located throughout central parts of the city and it gives Glovo total access and control over the goods that are available to their customers. Drivers only pick up orders and deliver them. They are not responsible for the selection, purchase, and packaging for delivery.
19. The Dark store concept is still in a testing phase
At this point in time, the Dark Store platform is in its experimental stage. It is only available in two cities, including Madrid, and Barcelona. Glovo is in the process of analyzing the system to determine its feasibility in the long run and to ensure that the system offers a viable service for consumers, and that it is well-utilized, and that it is cost-effective for Glovo. Efficiency is one of Glovo’s overarching goals, and customer satisfaction is a top priority. There have been no indications of how successful the new enterprise has been yet, but so far, it’s a platform that has been working well, but further analysis of the data will tell the story.
20. There are plans for Glovo to enter new markets
Glovo has achieved remarkable success in its grocery, food, pharmacy, and other vertical courier services so far, but the vision of the company extends far beyond these markets. Pierre has total confidence in the Glovo app and he is aware of the potential for extending the current reach into other areas that go beyond delivery services. Executives in the company are also considering a move into a new area which includes making reservations for users through the app. He didn’t elaborate on what kinds of reservations, but this is yet another market where there are scores of opportunities available. Pierre didn’t give an exact line for this new expansion other than to say that it is something that is going to be added soon.
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