Delivery firm, Glovo to reach more towns

Spanish on-demand courier service, Glovo, now plans to expand into Jinja or Entebbe as it grows its network across Uganda.

Kampala, Uganda | ISAAC KHISA |

The company currently partners with various businesses including retail chains such as Carrefour and fast food chains, KFC, Mr. Tasty Fried Chicken, The Food Hub and Meza Shawarma, to deliver food and groceries to the populations in Kampala.

“We started in Kampala and now looking into expanding to another town in the next one or two months. We are yet to make a decision but the top contenders are Jinja and Entebbe,” said Stephen Ruhohi, head of growth and marketing in Uganda and Kenya.

Ruhohi revealed that the company has recorded a surge in the number of users since its launch in Kampala in October last year, extending competition to door step of the likes of Jumia and Safe Boda.

“We are a multi-category App…We have food, supermarkets, pharmacists, a courier service and others. So all the customers’ needs are served using a single App,” he said, adding that the firm earns its revenue from charging commission to its business partners depending the value of the product and delivery fees starting from Shs1, 500 for food and Shs1, 800 for groceries.

This comes nearly two months since the company raised an additional 450 million euros to facilitate expansion in the current 22 countries including Uganda, Kenya, Morocco, Ivory Coast and Ghana and venture into newer markets including  Nigeria and Tunisia in Africa.

Founded by Oscar Pierre and Sacha Michaud in 2015, Glovo raised 150million euros in a Series E round led by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala in 2019. The new funds made the company cross the US$1 billion valuation mark, making it the second privately-held Spanish company to have achieved the “unicorn” status.

The company, which expected to break even in 2022, has more than 2.5million monthly active users, 50,000 active courier and over 50,000 associated partners worldwide.

****