German Grocery Delivery Service Gorillas to Make U.S. Debut

It's about to be a battle for sub-20-minute grocery delivery dominance in Brooklyn. 

On May 30, German online grocery delivery platform Gorillas will make its U.S. debut in New York, with service to parts of Williamsburg, Cobble Hill and other Brooklyn neighborhoods. In June, the company plans to add service in Manhattan.

Gorillas promises delivery of items from big-name national CPG brands as well as popular local vendors in 10 minutes or less. That hyperfast service, available for $1.80 per delivery fee with no order minimum, is enabled through micro-warehouses set up in each neighborhood that Gorillas serves. The company's 10-minute delivery promise pits it against Brooklyn-based ghost grocer Fridge No More, which announced in March that it had raised $15.4 million in a Series A funding round to expand its 15-minute grocery delivery along the East Coast.

Gorillas, founded in May 2020 in Berlin, currently serves more than 25 cities in Europe, including Amsterdam and London. The company now operates more than 75 microfulfillment centers, having raised $44 million in Series A funding and $290 million in a Series B investment round that closed in March. (New York-based investment firm Coatue Management led the Series B round; Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent also is an investor.) In April, the company announced that it was distributing $1 million to its warehouse and delivery staff as a thank you.

As some grocery delivery services have seen concerns raised about the efficacy and ethics of their gig worker-reliant business models, Gorillas has promoted the fact that it provides full-time employment and healthcare benefits as well as bikes and other equipment. 

"From day one, Gorillas was built on the belief that every employee should have the right gear and the right benefits to do their job safely, and that's a belief on which we'll never waver," Gorillas co-founder and CEO Kagan Sumer said in a news release.