Gopuff is an on-demand grocery delivery service from which customers can order 24/7. It promises to deliver orders within around 10 minutes.
The company, which is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was founded in 2013 by Rafael Ilishayev and Yakir Gola.
What sets Gopuff apart from most of its competition, at least in the United States, is its resource-intensive business model. The company operates hundreds of micro-fulfillment centers from which it delivers the more than 4,000 products it sells.
It, furthermore, handles the picking and delivery of products in-house (and has employees specializing in each of those processes). This allows Gopuff to serve customers within minutes. In contrast, most other delivery companies often need at least 30 minutes, in large parts because their couriers need to pick the products from the shelves as well.
Gopuff aims to improve on established supermarkets’ slim profit margins (around two to three percent) by employing fewer people, renting smaller and cheaper warehouses, keeping inventory low, and selling high-quality items at a premium price. The company even operates its small business accelerator program, which promotes local products.
The two founders started the business during their junior year in college. Their initial seed funding came in the form of a warehouse that they rented. That warehouse had leftover chairs and tables, which they managed to sell on Craigslist for $60,000 – enough to hire a developer who created the first iteration of the Gopuff app.
Over the coming years, Gopuff raised billions in funding ($3.4 billion, to be exact), which enabled the company to expand into more than 1,000 cities across the globe. The business is currently valued at $15 billion and generated $2 billion in revenue in 2021.
It, furthermore, employs around 5,000 people. Its delivery staff, as opposed to other platforms, is also employed on a full-time basis and categorized as W-2 employees. The company claims that drivers can make up to $20 per hour.
The methodology with which competitors of Gopuff are ranked is based on publicly available information. Data points such as the revenue generated, the number of employees, the number of cities served or couriers on the platform, and anything else in between will be considered.
In order to ensure comparability, we will take competition from all of Gopuff’s markets into account. The service is currently available in the United States, the United Kingdom, as well as France.
Additionally, Gopuff not only competes against other rapid delivery services but against any company that offers delivery of essentials and groceries. As such, this list also entails alternatives that may ship on a slower cadence (e.g., once per week) but make up for that by offering substantially lower prices.
Lastly, this analysis should not be seen as an endorsement of any company or service. It merely acts as a summary of all the competition that Gopuff faces right now.
So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the top 14 competitors of Gopuff.
1. Getir
Headquarters: Istanbul, Turkey Founder(s): Arkady Volozh, Mert Salur, Nazım Salur, Serkan Borançılı, Tuncay Tütek Year Founded: 2015
Getir is the single-biggest competitor to Gopuff and is currently available in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, and most recently the United States (since November 2021).
The company has adopted a slightly different business model, though. Instead of renting the fulfillment centers outright, it partners with local warehouse owners via franchise agreements.
In 2021, Getir, which is valued at over $11 billion, generated around $1 billion in revenue. Nazim Salur, Getir’s founder, previously said that the company is already profitable in its home country Turkey. However, across all of its markets, the company is expected to lose $1 billion in 2022 alone.
Getir, furthermore, employs more than 1,000 people. It operates in 81 cities across Turkey and 48 cities in Europe and the United States – with new ones being launched on a weekly cadence.
Sources: Bloomberg, Crunchbase, Getir
2. Gorillas
Headquarters: Berlin, Germany Founder(s): Jörg Kattner, Kağan Sümer, Ronny Shibley, Ugur Samut Year Founded: 2020
Gorillas is the leading rapid grocery delivery service coming out of Europe. Although its founder Jörg Kattner departed from the business early on, it has managed to vastly expand its reach across the continent.
Gorillas, much like Gopuff (and unlike Getir), leases the warehouses and operates them directly. Its riders are, furthermore, employed on a full-time basis. The company even has launched its own music label, which allows the firm’s employees to explore their passion for music.
VCs have poured a combined $1.3 billion into the company, which they valued at $3 billion during its peak in 2021. However, things took a turn for the worse in 2022, which ultimately culminated in Gorillas’ sale to Getir for ‘only’ $1.2 billion.
Gorillas competes with Gopuff in France, the U.K., as well as the U.S., which it entered in late 2021. It’s, furthermore, operating in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. More than 3,000 people are employed by Gorillas on a full-time basis.
Sources: Crunchbase, Gorillas, LinkedIn
3. Walmart Grocery
Headquarters: Bentonville, Arkansas, United States Founder(s): Sam Walton Year Founded: 1962
Walmart is the leading grocery delivery service in the U.S. with around 48 percent market share. Customers can either pick up their order in one of its 4,700+ stores or have it delivered by local, third-party drivers.
Walmart initially launched the service, called Walmart+, back in 2019 in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Vero Beach, Florida. After a successful test phase, it was officially introduced across the nation in September 2020. It has since expanded across North America and aims to reach 30 million households by the end of 2022.
Walmart+ costs $98 for its annual plan or $12.95 monthly. Apart from groceries, Walmart also delivers pharmaceutical products and conducts repairs. Walmart delivers to your home even if you are not home – by using a camera attached to an employee’s uniform that records the delivery.
Its goal with the program is to compete against Amazon’s Prime membership. To do that, Walmart offers a variety of features such as unlimited free deliveries on orders over $35, member prices on fuel at Walmart and Murphy stations (especially now at reduced rates to combat rising fuel prices), and access to mobile scan-and-go so you can pay as you shop in-store.
Sources: CNBC, Second Measure, Walmart
4. Instacart
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States Founder(s): Apoorva Mehta, Brandon Leonardo, Max Mullen Year Founded: 2012
Instacart is the second most popular grocery and essentials delivery service in the United States, boasting a market share of around 45 percent.
Unlike Gopuff, it works together with other grocery chains such as Albertsons, ALDI, Costco, CVS, Kroger, Loblaw, Publix, Sam’s Club, and more. Its network of more than 100,000 couriers will pick up the order directly from the shelves and deliver it right to the customer.
In order to get the business, which is currently valued at $24 billion, off the ground, tons of capital was needed. Instacart has raised $2.9 billion in funding throughout its existence. Despite internal turmoil, which led to the departure of its founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta (Instacart allegedly even offered itself to DoorDash and Uber), the company is still going strong.
In 2021, it generated revenues of $1.8 billion, up from the $1.5 billion Instacart made in 2020. Close to 15,000 people are employed by the company. The service is available in more than 5,000 cities across Canada and the United States.
Due to increased pressure of becoming profitable, Instacart has decided against expanding into new countries. It was previously contemplating expanding into the United Kingdom, among others.
Sources: Barrons, Crunchbase, Linkedin
5. Shipt
Headquarters: Birmingham, Alabama, United States Founder(s): Bill Smith Year Founded: 2014
Shipt is another delivery service that partners with retailers across the nation to ship groceries and essentials to customers. Naturally, due to its origins, the company is popular in the south of the United States, which is the only market it operates in.
Co-founder Smith, who had started and exited businesses before (most notably Insight Card Services, which he sold to Green Dot Bank), invested $3 million of his own funds to get Shipt off the ground. Shipt initially began delivering all types of products. A pivot in early 2015 shifted the firm’s focus towards groceries – and it hasn’t looked back since.
Today, Shipt works together with 120+ retailers nationwide. It counts leading chains such as Costco, CVS, Walgreens, Petco, Sephora, and more as partners. It’s the third most popular grocery delivery service in the U.S., accounting for around 6 percent of all sales.
Within three years of being founded, the company managed to grow to hundreds of cities served. This led Target to acquire the business for $550 million in December 2017. Previously, Shipt had raised $65.2 million in venture funding.
Target has since beefed up the availability of Shipt. Today, the service is available in 5,000+ cities and is thus able to cover 80 percent of households nationwide. Those households are served by the more than 300,000 ‘Shoppers’ that work for Shipt on a contractual basis.
Sources: Crunchbase, Shipt
6. FreshDirect
Headquarters: Long Island City, New York, United States Founder(s): David McInerney, Jason Ackerman, Joe Fedele Year Founded: 1998
FreshDirect was launched right after the colossal failure of Webvan, the first dot-com era startup that tried to crack the formula of online grocery delivery. Its founders, specifically Ackerman (a former investment banker who specialized in the grocery industry) and Fedele (CEO of Fairway Market), possessed the required business acumen to make it work.
The service delivers produce across the greater New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC metropolitan areas. It offers instant (2 hours), same-day, as well as next-day delivery. FreshDirect has been fairly conservative in its expansion and fundraising efforts and ‘only’ raised $280 million since its founding.
In spite of some legal troubles, which led Ackerman to install his nephew as the CEO of the company, FreshDirect managed to stay relevant – even in the eye of ever-increasing competition in the delivery space. It’s particularly strong in the New York area where it also chose to base itself.
In November 2020, Netherlands-based food retailer Ahold Delhaize (together with private equity firm Centerbridge Partners) acquired FreshDirect for about $300 million. The company currently employs 3,000+ people and generates around $600 million in annual revenue.
Its DeliveryPass plan, which is available at different pricing tiers, furthermore grants customers free deliveries and other benefits. Over 6,000+ different items can be ordered, giving customers slightly more options compared to Gopuff.
Sources: Crunchbase, FreshDirect, LinkedIn
7. Amazon Fresh
Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, United States Founder(s): Amazon Year Founded: 2007
Amazon Fresh is a subsidiary of the online marketplace giant that includes its own set of retail stores (dubbed Amazon Go) as well as grocery delivery. If you are subscribed to Amazon’s Prime membership, then you can take advantage of perks such as free same-day delivery or access to various discounts.
The delivery service is available across 2000+ cities in the U.S. and the U.K., as well as in selected cities such as Berlin, London, Milan, and Tokyo. In some instances, such as the U.K., it works together with local retail chains to source the groceries. Other times, it delivers from Whole Foods stores, which Amazon acquired back in 2017.
Amazon is particularly secretive about its Fresh subsidiary, so it doesn’t release much data to the public. Nevertheless, given its ambition, capital, reach, and ability to repeatedly expand into new business lines, it can be assumed that it already is a significant competitor to Gopuff and other players in the industry.
Additionally, Amazon continues to launch new physical stores, which will further expand its reach and thus minimize the time it takes to deliver. It wouldn’t be unfathomable that it can eventually rival the delivery speeds of Gopuff.
Sources: Amazon Fresh
8. DoorDash
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States Founder(s): Andy Fang, Evan Moore, Stanley Tang, Tony Xu Year Founded: 2013
DoorDash is the leading food delivery company in the United States, boasting a market share of close to 60 percent. In recent times (December 2021, to be exact), it entered Gopuff’s turf by introducing express grocery and essentials delivery (in under 30 minutes) in partnership with Albertsons Companies.
Given its extensive track record in food delivery, it can be assumed that it will eventually be able to carve out a significant market share for itself. DoorDash, furthermore, has the capital and human resources to get the service up and running quickly.
Over two million couriers already deliver for DoorDash (including both food and groceries). An additional 6,000 people are employed by the company on a full-time basis. It, furthermore, offers a premium membership called DashPass, which grants customers a variety of benefits (similar to Gopuff’s Fam Subscription Program).
Additionally, DoorDash raised $2.5 billion during its startup life and another $3.4 billion when it went public in December 2020. In 2021 alone, the company generated $4.8 billion in revenue. DoorDash continues to lose money as well, though – $468 million in 2021, to be exact.
Sources: Crunchbase, DoorDash, Second Measure
9. Uber Eats
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States Founder(s): Uber Year Founded: 2014
Uber Eats is the food and grocery delivery subsidiary of the transportation giant Uber. The platform was initially launched as UberFRESH and, a year later, renamed to Uber Eats. Uber launched its grocery delivery service during the height of the pandemic in July 2020.
While the Eats business, much like the parent company, has gone through dozens of legal and financial issues in the past, it remains one of the world’s leading food delivery services. Uber Eats is currently available in more than 6,000 cities across 45 countries.
The United States naturally remains its strongest market, accounting for 24 percent of all meal delivery sales (only being second to DoorDash).
Starting with Miami and Dallas, Uber Eats has since expanded the grocery delivery service to hundreds of cities across the United States. In July 2021, Uber Eats announced a partnership with Albertsons (just like DoorDash), which enabled it to extend to more than 400 cities across the United States.
Uber Eats generated $8.3 billion in revenue in 2021. The service, in addition, works with more than 600,000 restaurants. Uber does currently not disclose how much it makes from grocery deliveries specifically.
Sources: Second Measure, TechCrunch, Uber
10. Flink
Headquarters: Berlin, Germany Founder(s): Christoph Cordes, Julian Dames, Nikolas Bullwinkel, Oliver Merkel, Saad Saeed Year Founded: 2020
Flink is another Berlin-headquartered rapid delivery startup gunning for dominance on the European continent. Its founding team is comprised of experienced entrepreneurs who saw an opportunity to enter a hot market that was amplified by stay-at-home orders.
The company, to be able to compete, has raised tons of capital during its short lifespan. In fact, investors have poured a total of $1.1 billion into Flink, which is currently valued at $2.85 billion.
Flink and Gorillas even contemplated merging but the former ultimately decided to stay independent – and raise money from DoorDash to continue operating.
Flink operates 140 delivery hubs in over 60 cities and is available in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (where it competes against Gopuff). Over 2,000 people are employed by the company on top of that.
Sources: Crunchbase, Flink, LinkedIn
11. Tesco
Headquarters: Welwyn Garden City, Hertford, United Kingdom Founder(s): Jack Cohen Year Founded: 1919
Tesco is by far the largest grocery chain in the United Kingdom, boasting a market share of close to 28 percent. It operates more than 4,000 stores in the country. Tesco’s first experiment with grocery delivery started back in 2017 when it partnered with startup Quiqup to offer one-hour deliveries in London.
Those efforts have since expanded vastly. In May 2021, it unveiled its own delivery service dubbed Whoosh. Tesco recently announced that it plans to expand the service to over 600 stores by the end of 2022.
Additionally, the firm partnered with Gorillas in October 2021 to also offer 10-minute deliveries to selected customers. Customers, just like with Amazon Prime, can subscribe to Tesco’s Clubcard membership, which grants them perks such as discounted deliveries.
Sources: Statista, The Grocer
12. Misfits Market
Headquarters: Pennsauken, New Jersey, United States Founder(s): Abhi Ramesh Year Founded: 2018
Misfits Market is putting a twist on the grocery delivery game by only selling what it calls ‘ugly’ produce. The company was founded after Ramesh discovered the problem of food being wasted on farms that didn’t meet the standards of traditional grocery chains.
Its focus on ugly produce allows the company to offer discounts of up to 40 percent. On top of that, it helps to combat food loss, which is equal to about 30 to 40 percent of all food supply according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Misfits Market charges a flat fee of $5.50 per shipped box, which is normally delivered on a weekly cadence. Customers need to order at least $30 worth of food in order to check out.
Its service is currently available in 44 states across the United States. In recent times, Misfits Market even introduced its own private-label brand called Odds & Ends, which offers pantry staples such as coffee and snacks like dried fruits or nuts.
Investors have poured $526 million into the company thus far. Misfits Market, which doesn’t disclose revenue figures, is reportedly valued at $2 billion.
Sources: Bloomberg, Misfits Market
13. Imperfect Foods
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States Founder(s): Ben Simon, Benjamin Chesler, Ron Clark Year Founded: 2015
Another service that tackles the ever-increasing problem of food waste is Imperfect Foods. So far, it has helped to save over 145 million pounds of food since its inception in 2015.
Imperfect Food, despite a tumultuous 2021, which led to the replacement of its CEO Philip Behn (mainly due to diminishing revenue numbers as a result of decreasing lockdown measures), remains on track to revolutionize the grocery delivery industry.
It currently delivers across most of the West South Central region, Midwest, Northeast, and all along the West Coast. For comparison, Misfits Market is essentially available nationwide across the United States.
Grocery deliveries happen on a weekly basis. Each week, the company will prefill a customer’s cart with products it thinks they dig (based on previously submitted preferences). Carts can then be adjusted as the customer sees fit.
Backers have invested a total of $229.1 million into the company, which is currently valued at $700 million. In 2021, Imperfect Foods generated around $500 million in revenue. The company employs around 1,500 people on a full-time basis.
Sources: Biz Journals, Crunchbase, Imperfect Foods
14. Boxed
Headquarters: New York City, United States Founder(s): Chieh Huang, Christopher Cheung, Jared Yaman, William Fong Year Founded: 2013
Boxed is an online bulk grocery retailer that allows consumers to purchase groceries and other essentials at wholesale prices. The company also offers an on-demand grocery delivery service, dubbed Express, in partnership with chains such as Costco and Lidl.
Boxed initially started out selling pantry staples but has since expanded into fresh foods such as beef or eggs.
While Gopuff is substantially faster at delivering products, Boxed is oftentimes much cheaper. However, since Boxed does not offer a membership, it requires consumers to pay for shipping fees if the order is below $75. The recent inflation of food and gas prices has further contributed to price hikes.
Boxed has raised $365 million in funding thus far. Another $334 million was netted during its IPO in December 2021 (it went public via a SPAC merger and now trades on the NYSE). In 2021, Boxed, which employs over 250 people, recorded $771 million in annual revenues (up 11 percent from the year prior).
Sources: Boxed Investor Relations, Crunchbase, LinkedIn
