Rapid grocery delivery start-up, Jokr, has pulled out of Europe without finding a buyer for its regional operations.
The delivery service operated in Europe for around six months, before CEO Ralf Wenzel decided to close its regional operations.
A spokesperson confirmed that the company valued at $1.2 billion shut operated at the beginning of 2022, without finding a purchaser.
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A Bloomberg report also claimed Jokr had been exploring the sale of its European business in December.
According to a UK-based investor in the grocery delivery, Jokr’s Europe based employees have already reached out looking for new opportunities at rival companies via LinkedIn.
However, the company still has a team of 70 members in Berlin, the spokesperson said, but doesn’t make deliveries or have riders.
Jokr was founded in 2021 by Wenzel, a former executive at Delivery Hero, amid the popularity of grocery delivery in the pandemic.
Wenzel clarified that the European market only accounted for 1% of the business and that 90% of the business was based in Latin America, with the start-up launching in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile.
He also added the company’s ambition wasn’t global dominance but to provide a depth of services partnering with local farmers.
“We’re building for relevance, for efficiency, for profitability. That’s why you need to go much deeper, much more vertical than horizontal. It was a distraction to have two small businesses…” Wenzel added.
“We said we can look into Europe at a later point in time, let’s build for those markets where we have the teams to focus. That’s why we exited the European markets some few months ago.”
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