Struggles in the US market lead Getir to layoff 100

Rapid grocery delivery startup Getir has recently laid off about 100 corporate employees, according to a source familiar with the details.

The layoffs affected various teams, including legal, operations, HR, fleet, and finance departments, and brought the number of employees on the company’s Slack channel for US employees down from roughly 260 to 160. More cuts are expected at Getir’s stores as the company merges its US network with Gorillas, another rapid-delivery startup, and eliminates overlapping locations.

Getir delivers groceries and other essentials in as little as 10 minutes and uses small storefronts to fill and deliver orders using bikes and scooters. The company faced several challenges in the past, including layoffs of 14% of its workforce in May, difficulties in paying store employees on-time, and strict time limits for employees filling and delivering orders, leading to a few accidents.

In November 2022, Getir reached a deal to acquire Gorillas for $1.2 billion, a steep discount from Gorillas’ 2021 valuation of $3 billion. The recent job cuts were spread across different teams, and some high-performing employees who had helped build Getir’s business since its launch in the US in late 2021 were also affected.

Some believe that the layoffs indicate the company’s plan to withdraw from the US market and save money. Getir appointed Kristof Van Beveren as its first US general manager in January 2023. Before entering the US, Getir built its businesses in densely populated European cities such as Istanbul, London, and Amsterdam, but even in those markets, the company and its competitors have struggled to achieve profitability.

The US presented additional challenges for Getir, as customers were used to buying all their groceries at once and the company had to build its operations from scratch, rather than relying on acquisitions of similar businesses.