Getir, the grocery app which expanded at breakneck speed to become of the world’s most valuable fast-delivery platforms, is weighing a string of asset sales as part of crunch restructuring talks.
Sky News has learnt that Getir, which was founded in Turkey and has a big presence in Britain, is examining possible disposals including FreshDirect, a US-based online grocer it only acquired late last year.
The company, which has gained brand awareness by sponsoring Tottenham Hotspur’s training kit in a three-year deal, is also said to be considering a sale of BiTaksi, a ride-hailing service in Turkey.
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City sources said that Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi state-backed investor which is a minority shareholder in Getir, was keen for it to pursue a string of asset sales.
Mubadala is being advised on a prospective restructuring of Getir by AlixPartners, the sources added, while cautioning that the disposals were not certain to take place.
News of the potential moves comes days after Sky News revealed that Getir was in talks about a radical restructuring just two years after it was valued at nearly $12bn (£9.6bn).
The company has already pulled out of a number of countries, including Italy and Spain, as it seeks to reduce losses – and now operates in five markets including the UK and Turkey.
A source close to the company denied at the weekend that any form of insolvency process was under consideration, saying that if it decided to exit a country it would do so “in an orderly fashion”.
A drastic restructuring could put thousands of jobs at risk across the markets where it operates.
The talks highlight the slumping valuations of technology companies once hailed as the new titans of major economies.
At one point, Getir was valued more highly by private investors than Marks & Spencer and J Sainsbury combined.
Getir advertised on a London bus. iStock file pic
Getir is backed by prominent investors including Mubadala, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global.
The company was one of the hottest start-ups of the pandemic, when financiers rushed to plough billions of dollars into businesses they believed would benefit from structural shifts in the economy.
Getir, which means “bring” in Turkish, was valued at $11.8bn when it raised more than $750m in a funding round in early 2022.
Its valuation has slumped since then.
Last September, Getir also announced a sharp cut in the size of its workforce, axing roughly 2,500 jobs, or about 10% of its global employee base.
Founded in 2015, Getir was one of a crop of companies promising city-based consumers rapid delivery of groceries and other essential products.
During the COVID crisis, the industry saw sales explode, with emerging trends such as working from home fuelling investor confidence that the boom was sustainable.
Many of its rivals have already gone bust, while others have been swallowed up as part of a desperate wave of consolidation.
Getir itself bought Gorillas in a $1.2bn stock-based deal that closed in December 2022.
“Getir principally doesn’t comment on rumours,” a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
