Companies

Spanish company Glovo inks Naivas, Java delivery deals

naivas

Customers at a Naivas outlet in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Spanish delivery firm Glovo has onboarded Java House, Naivas Supermarket, Zucchini Greengrocers and Onn The Way Supermarket as the company expands, coming seven months after entering the Kenyan market.

The firm, which formally launched local operations this year, has been growing its partnership list as a means to grow its customer base.

“In the long run these partnerships will help us achieve our broader strategy of being a single platform for all our customer’s needs and deliveries,” said William Benthall, Glovo’s general manager for Kenya.

Glovo entered the Kenyan market in January and most recently partnered with Simbisa Brands, (operators of Pizza Inn, Chicken Inn, Creamy Inn and Galitos).

The platform enables customers to order items such as food, groceries or gifts through the smartphone.

Glovo then buys and delivers the items. The firm raised Sh17 billion in new funding that will partly go towards growing its African footprint and expanding its delivery portfolio.

In Africa, Glovo operates in Kenya, Morocco, Egypt and Ivory Coast with plans to expand to Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Glovo says it will use the additional capital from its fourth round of fundraising to expand its delivery categories beyond food to groceries, drinks, gifts, laundry, pharmaceutical products and courier.

Its fundraising so far stands at Sh32.5 billion ($322 million).

Last year, the firm raised Sh13.5 billion ($134 million) from VC and PE firms in its third round of fundraising. It has enlisted more than 120 riders who make deliveries in Nairobi.