Participated · Series A · Jun 2023

Bluu Seafood develops cultivated (lab-grown) fish products using stem-cell technology derived from a one-time fish biopsy that does not require killing fish. The company unveiled first products in August, including fish sticks and fish balls made from cultivated fish cells enriched with plant proteins to improve mouth-feel and cooking. Bluu was founded in Berlin in 2020 as Bluu Biosciences. The startup is focusing on regulatory approval and commercialisation, targeting Singapore (expects approval sometime in 2024), has initiated the FDA approval process, and plans to enter European markets thereafter. Financially, the company had previously raised €7.1 million and is now funded to pursue market entry and scaling. Bluu positions its products as a response to overfishing, contamination and animal-cruelty issues in seafood production. Bluu Biosciences is developing lab-grown salmon, trout and carp, with a particular focus on carp as an attractive target for large Asian markets. The company leverages immortalized fish cell lines developed by co‑founder Sebastian Rakers, who cultivated and immortalized cell lines from more than 20 fish species during research at the Fraunhofer Institute. Bluu says those immortalized cells allow vastly greater proliferation than normal cells, which the founders describe as a strong competitive advantage for scaling production. The startup plans to have a prototype product by the end of 2022 and is actively pushing for regulatory progress as one of the last obstacles to commercialization. Bluu raised €7 million in the announced financing to accelerate commercialization and to benefit from emerging technology providers in media, bioreactors and scaffolding. Founders Simon Fabich and Sebastian Rakers aim to focus on the Asian market, where shifting production behavior could have the biggest sustainability impact.

Participated · Seed · May 2022

OlaClick provides restaurants with point-of-sale (POS) and customer management (CRM) services, digitized menus, and an administration panel for discounts and campaigns to enable direct-to-consumer e-commerce via WhatsApp and Instagram. The company was co-founded in 2020 by four entrepreneurs who are European immigrants living in Latin America and has expanded to more than 20 nations, with core markets in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. Its platform processes over 1 million orders each month from more than 45,000 restaurants. Last year OlaClick processed $35 million in commission-free orders and aims to scale that to $200 million this year. The startup currently lets restaurants use their own logistics or customer pickup and plans to partner with logistics startups to offer delivery services. It will deploy new funding to expand engineering and product teams and broaden offerings for restaurant partners.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2021

Serve Robotics develops and operates autonomous delivery robots designed to travel on sidewalks in urban settings. The company’s operations require recurring expenditures such as maintenance, batteries, connectivity, remote supervision and coordination with merchants and users. Public reporting links a $200 million financing to sustaining those operational needs, though specifics about financial performance, fleet size, cities of operation and revenue were not disclosed. The firm faces technical, regulatory and public-acceptance challenges common to sidewalk delivery robotics, including navigation among pedestrians and local rules. Because detailed metrics and the structure of the reported funding are unavailable, the company’s precise financial position and near-term plans beyond maintaining service continuity remain unclear.

Led · Series D · Nov 2021

Facily leverages an asset-light community group-buying model, a logistics network and a technology platform to offer low-cost products to consumers. Founded in 2018, the company connects groups of buyers to obtain lower prices and now operates in nine Brazilian states. Facily reports more than 7 million active users and ranks among the fastest-growing shopping apps according to App Annie. The company positions itself to reduce barriers to traditional e-commerce and expand inclusion for households that spend a large share of income on food (the articles cite ~85% of Brazilians spending about 65% of family income on food). With the new funding, Facily plans to continue investing in technology and logistics to scale its model across Brazil and Latin America. Financially, the company reached unicorn status with the latest extension and has raised more than US$500 million over the past 12 months. Facily credits its rapid growth to disrupting supply chains via social commerce and a focus on delivering the lowest prices to customers. Facily is a social‑commerce marketplace that uses a gamified app and group‑purchase model to connect low‑income Brazilian consumers with cheaper products while paying producers more. It provides pickup points, multiple payment options (including cash and bank transfer) and no shipping charges to reach largely unbanked or underbanked users. The company says sales volumes grew 43x from January to September and delivered more than 7 million items in October, though it declined to disclose revenue figures, reporting "exponential monthly growth." Facily credits an asset‑light business model and logistics network for its rapid expansion. It plans to use recent capital to accelerate national expansion, attract new sellers, invest in technology and logistics intelligence, and enhance customer experience. The startup says its app is one of the top three most downloaded in Brazil and the fastest‑growing e‑commerce food app globally (per App Annie).

Led · Series C · Oct 2021

Gorillas operates an instant grocery delivery service that claims to deliver customers’ orders from cart to doorstep in about 10 minutes, offering access to more than 2,500 essential items at retail prices for a delivery fee of just over $2. The company was founded in 2020 by Kağan Sümer and is described in the article as Berlin-based, with services active in Germany, France, Italy, the US, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, and Denmark. Gorillas raised approximately €1.29B in 2021 and is reported to sit at a $3.1B valuation, described as the fastest unicorn in Europe. The company provides its riders with fixed employment contracts, health insurance, employer‑financed accident insurance, and paid vacation. Current commercial moves include a deepening strategic partnership with Jumbo Supermarkets, including product supply to Gorillas warehouses, co-location pilots in cities, and joint initiatives to expand market presence. As part of the expanded partnership, Mississippi Ventures (the investment fund of the Van Eerd/Jumbo family) will take a financial stake in Gorillas and the startup will become a co-sponsor of Team Jumbo-Visma to boost international visibility. Gorillas provides instant access to essential grocery products through a network of city-center micro-warehouses optimized for fast picking and packing. The company claims ten-minute deliveries and operates in nine countries across more than 55 cities with over 180 warehouses. Gorillas employs over 11,000 people and delivered 4.5 million orders in the past six months. It reached over USD 300 million revenue run-rate within about one year and has reported double-digit monthly revenue growth. The company positions itself as infrastructure for the fastest last-mile delivery and hires its riders rather than relying solely on gig-only contractors. Gorillas says it plans to accelerate global expansion and continue developing quick-commerce innovations to shape grocery consumer behaviour. Gorillas operates an ultra-fast grocery delivery service that offers customers access to more than 2,000 essential items at retail prices with deliveries in 10 minutes or less for a fee just over $2. The company has scaled rapidly, growing 10x in the past three months and expanding to more than 12 cities (including Amsterdam, London and Munich) and 40+ micro-fulfilment centres. Gorillas now employs a team of more than 2,000 people and says it hires its riders on employment contracts with career development programs. Management has promised a $1 million bonus distribution among riders and micro-fulfilment staff as part of the recent financing. The new funding is expected to drive further expansion to 10+ countries and 50+ cities, with Paris next and New York City targeted as the first U.S. market. With this raise the company surpassed a $1 billion valuation, becoming Europe’s fastest unicorn to date. Gorillas operates hyper-local fulfillment centers and promises grocery delivery within an average of ten minutes. The company employs riders directly and charges a low delivery fee (€1.80) while saying procurement margins let it sell at retail prices. It targets emergency and quick-replenishment grocery use-cases rather than weekly bulk shopping and is often described as a ‘dark’ convenience store model. Gorillas was founded in May this year and currently operates in Berlin and Cologne. The startup plans to expand across Germany and into more of Europe (first stop Amsterdam) and will use new capital to build out its team in Berlin. By the end of Q2 next year it aims to be available in over 15 cities in Germany and across Europe, operating more than 60 fulfillment centers.