Germany’s Rapid Delivery App Flink Buys French Rival Cajoo

Flink, the German rapid delivery startup, will buy its competitor Cajoo from France, which will give Flink access to the French grocery chain Carrefour, Bloomberg reported Monday (May 16).

This will help Flink grow more in France. The company will get 30 micro-fulfillment centers in nine cities in the country and will help it reach some 6 million consumers. Cajoo’s services include rapid grocery delivery.

Carrefour has a minority stake in Cajoo. As a part of the deal, Carrefour will be a direct shareholder and exclusive partner of Flink.

The deal has valued Flink at over $5 billion, the report said. Flink is backed by DoorDash, and competes with various rivals on delivering groceries — a lucrative market since the pandemic changed the landscape of most of the world’s commerce.

By buying Cajoo, Flink gains a strategic partner in France at a time when most investors aren’t as willing to fund loss-making businesses.

See also: Led By DoorDash, Grocery Delivery Startup Flink Raises $750M

Last December, PYMNTS reported that Flink had raised $750 million in a Series B funding round that valued the startup a $2.1 billion. The funding was led by DoorDash. The company was founded in 2020 in Berlin, and delivers food and supermarket essentials in under 10 minutes. At the time, the company had more than 140 micro-fulfillment centers in 60 cities in four countries.

It was DoorDash’s first big investment in Europe. DoorDash is the top delivery service in the U.S., but Uber Eats and Grubhub parent Just Eat Takeaway have larger international footprints.