Episode description
20VC: The Insane Story of DeliveryHero: Losing $200M on a Gorillas Investment | Winning the Emerging Markets Delivery War with 35 Acquisitions | Competing with Uber and Doordash in a Capital Arms Race with Niklas Östberg
Episode description
Niklas Östberg is the Founder and CEO of Delivery Hero, a global juggernaut now present in over 70 countries across four continents. In Q4 2024, the company announced GMV of $49BN with $12.8BN in revenue and $750M in EBITDA. They have made an astonishing 35+ acquisitions including $2BN for Glovo. Before launching Delivery Hero, Niklas co-founded Pizza.nu, leading its expansion across Sweden, Poland, Finland, and Austria.
In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
04:09 How Skiing Prepared Me For Life As An Entrepreneur
10:12 Losing $200M on Gorillas Investment
17:58 Quick Commerce: Does the Business Model Work?
25:09 How to Master M&A: Lessons from 35 Acquisitions
31:45 Evaluating Acquisitions: The Glovo Example
32:39 Cohort Analysis: Lessons from $49BN in GMV
34:35 Growth Strategies: What Worked? What Did Not Work?
38:27 Competing Against Uber and Doordash
41:40 Is Cash a Weapon in the War for Food Delivery
44:29 Why Are Emerging Markets a Good Investment?
48:21 Why Are European Markets Broken? Are Regulators Killing Europe?
51:57 Quickfire Round: Insights and Reflections