That was quick. Jiffy, a London-based grocery delivery company, has raised $28 million in Series B funding. This was just half a year after its initial seed round of 2.6M. According to Jiffy, it has raised $35M.
To fulfil its promise of fresh groceries within 15 minutes, the grocery delivery startup has its own network of dark stores.
It currently has eight London locations and has the resources to expand.
Jiffy told TechCrunch that Jiffy has amassed approximately 20,000 customers across six delivery zones (all in London at the moment).
Heartland Investments, a family-owned investment firm, is leading the Series A round. Flint Capital, a Boston-based international VC funds, and Playrix, as well as existing investors Baring Vostok Capital Partnerships and LVL1 are also participating.
Fast-following funding is a sign of how competitive the UK's on-demand grocery market has become. It also signals investors that they are impressed by the startups' early execution.
Gorillas and Weezy are other on-demand grocery delivery companies in London. US unicorn goPuff has also joined the mix, having acquired UK startups Fancy & Dija.
Jiffys founders are Q-Commerce veterans. Vladimir Kholiaznikov, co-founder of Jiffys, was the former CEO of Russia's e-grocery company X5 Food Tech. Artur Shamalov, another co-founder, also started a Russian food-related startup. Both co-founders have been investors in the past so they will likely have a growing network of contacts to help them raise capital.
Jiffy claims that its customers are middle-aged grocery shoppers and families who have switched to Jiffy's app from online weekly shops and traditional convenience stores. Kholiaznikov says that we are confident this trend will accelerate as we mature.
Series A funds will be used to expand within London, and possibly further afield as Jiffy plans on expanding into other cities in the UK.
Kholiaznikov told TechCrunch that we are aiming to cover London within the M4 by the end of this year. We will find out later if Jiffy moves to cities as a pilot.
He adds that the long-term plan is for all towns with more than 100k people to be on our radar.
We are creating a national company, but we will also explore other markets through an alternative route. We provide our Q-commerce platform to select local players in international market (for example, Send in Australia partner), Kholiaznikov said, adding: This route will be continued to add value for our core business as well as shareholders.
There are many startups that offer delivery services to UK city dwellers, but Jiffys offers fast delivery of fresh produce. This is a smart differentiation from operators who mainly want to ship simple to handle products like pop bottles and crisps.
There are also a lot of food delivery apps that want to eat in the weekly grocery shop. These familiar names, such as Deliveroo, JustEat, and Uber Eats, focus on delivery from restaurants, but others have been grabbing light groceries from stores they don't own.
Jiffy, along with other startups, is pursuing a full weekly grocery shopping trip. While Jiffy promises a 15-minute delivery, it presents a greater logistics and execution challenge. However, Jiffy has the potential to be more sustainable and profitable than catering to convenience and snack cravings.
Jiffy and his co-workers have other competitors to worry about. Traditional supermarkets made enormous profits during the pandemic, and could easily spend a lot of money to improve their delivery services. This is where startups with a more lean approach can gain a competitive advantage. They will deliver on their promises of fast delivery but offer fewer product choices.
Jiffy will now offer Click & Collect delivery in addition to grocery delivery. This gives customers more options when it comes to how they get their groceries.
It also avoids the many (legal, ethical and logistical) pitfalls associated with gig work. Its moped-riding delivery couriers and e-bike drivers are liveried employees.
The open Q-Commerce feature is another unique aspect of its model.
Kholiaznikov notes that this means we offer our ready-to use IT platform to other companies so they can launch their own fast-commerce stores.
Lise Kaae CEO of Heartland commented on Jiffys Series A. She said that the Jiffy team had impressed her with their ambitious plans, effective execution and are looking forward to the future in an exciting market.
We believe in the huge potential of the UK e-groceries sector and in Jiffy's ultra-fast delivery model. Jiffy is led by an experienced team of founders. The current round will allow Jiffy to accelerate its growth. We are happy that Baring Vostok has been a part this exciting story.
