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As Klarna cuts staff, another European tech unicorn is shifting priorities and laying off 300 workers.
Grocery delivery start-up Gorillas is cutting half its global office workforce as it focuses its attention on long-term profitability in five key markets.
The Berlin-based business announced today (24 May) that it is laying off 300 employees globally and shifting strategy to focus on Germany, France, UK, Netherlands and the US.
It is still considering its options in four of its other markets – Italy, Spain, Denmark and Belgium. The company could potentially pull out, however it confirmed to The Verge that nothing has been decided yet.
Gorillas was founded in Berlin in 2020 by Kağan Sümer and Jörg Kattner, promising grocery deliveries in as little as 10 minutes.
It raised nearly $1bn in a Series C funding round last October, just a few months after hitting unicorn status with a $290m Series B funding round.
Despite this VC backing, Gorillas said in its latest announcement that it is working in a “challenging and complex global environment”, prompting it to shift focus from hyper growth to long-term profitability.
Around 90pc of Gorillas’ revenue comes from five key countries, which have “entered a clear path to profitability”.
“For this reason, we have decided to sharpen our focus and continue to grow these five markets, where we see huge potential in the near future,” the company wrote in a statement on its website.
“In Italy, Spain, Denmark and Belgium, very attractive markets in their own rights, we are looking at all possible strategic options for the Gorillas brand.”
News of this employee downsizing comes just two weeks after Gorillas celebrated reaching 16m orders worldwide. Since 2020, it has expanded to more than 60 cities in nine countries, including Amsterdam, London, Paris, Madrid, New York and Munich, and built more than 230 warehouses.
“While this was an extremely hard decision to make, these are necessary moves that will help Gorillas to become a stronger and more profitable business with a sharpened focus on its customers and its brand,” the company wrote.
Gorillas is not the only European tech unicorn to cut its workforce this week. Klarna, the Swedish ‘buy now, pay later’ fintech, announced plans to lay off 10pc of its workforce.
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