Flink SE is a German on-demand delivery service that delivers everyday items directly to consumers from called "
dark stores",
hyper-local grocery warehouses not accessible to the public. Flink promises to deliver groceries "in 10 minutes". Deliveries are made by Flink's employees on e-bikes, provided by the company. They currently operate in Germany and the Netherlands.
Flink is the largest third-party delivery service in Europe, having surpassed
Gorillas in 2021. The company said in 2021 that it delivered to up to 10 million customers at over 140 locations in more than 60 cities in Europe.
History
Flink was founded at the end of 2020 in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
by Christoph Cordes, Oliver Merkel Julian Dames, Saad Saeed and Nikolas Bullwinkel as a
start-up
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend ...
. Flink has raised around 750 million US dollars in financing rounds, including from the investor group around
DoorDash
DoorDash, Inc. is an American company operating online food ordering and food delivery. It trades under the symbol DASH. With a 56% market share, DoorDash is the largest food delivery platform in the United States. It also has a 60% market sha ...
and from
REWE
Rewe (stylized as REWE; ) is a supermarket chain in Germany and the main brand of Rewe Group headquartered in Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of ...
. Flink's first round in February 2021 was led by Cherry Ventures, Northzone, and Target Global. By the end of 2021, Flink was valued at US$2.1 billion.
In 2022, the smaller French competitor Cajoo, number two in France with six million customers in Paris and the eight next largest cities, was taken over. Flink claimed to have become the market leader in the country. As part of the takeover, the
Carrefour
Carrefour Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, Essonne, Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 ...
trading group, which had a stake in Cajoo, became a shareholder in Flink and an exclusive partner in the French market. Flink took over employees and all of Cajoo's warehouses, which are of crucial importance to the company due to their central location, for around 100 million euros.
In April 2024, the French subsidiary filed for bankruptcy. Flink had previously withdrawn from Austria in December 2022.
[https://www.derstandard.de/consent/tcf/story/2000141611849/lebensmittel-lieferdienst-flink-austria-insolvent]
References
{{reflist
2020 establishments in Germany