This is Glovo

Our story begins with Óscar graduating from Georgia Tech in Aerospace Engineering.  After an internship at Airbus, he felt the job didn’t fit with his aspirations. Inspired by the first versions of Uber and Postmates, he developed an initial version of an app called Globo – meaning balloon in Spanish. But he changed it to Glovo at the last minute, making it more unique. Soon after, Óscar met Sacha Michaud and they both embarked on one of the greatest rides of their lives.

The first round of financing was closed right after Christmas. Glovo started delivering real orders with only two options in the app: “Buy something” and “Send something”. The beginning was tough, with less than 10 orders per day, and the whole team connected 24/7, even completing order requests themselves.

With a team of 20 people, Glovo moved to a bigger co-working space in Barcelona. Growth was still the main concern and money was running out (again). A big strategic decision was made: to build a marketplace of local stores. The first restaurant to sign a partnership with us was an Indian restaurant in Barcelona. Thank you Sindur!

With only ten cities and still unable to make a positive operating margin, our losses started growing fast. After being declined by 117 investors, Glovo was able to breathe again thanks to a €25M Series B round. It was time to think big. The business was growing fast among users and within one year, we were operating in most South American countries.

At this point, there were lots of competitors trying to conquer new markets. Acting fast was crucial. But spreading ourselves too thin was working against us. We didn’t have enough resources or the engineering capacity to win everywhere. So, following the mantra “Go fast, fail fast”, we closed in Brazil. However, our first micro-fulfillment centre and cookroom in Barcelona opened. Plus Glovo Cares was launched!

The year started off tough, shutting down Brazil and supporting the local team the best we could. Sacha set up the Social Impact team to become an impact-driven and socially responsible company. At the end of the year, we achieved a break-even operational margin, meaning the company wasn’t losing money on a per order day basis anymore. And we had acquired a new mascot, Glopi!

By now, we were already in 19 countries. Due to the pandemic, teams had a tough time, but our social impact projects gained more momentum as we collaborated with lots of NGOs delivering meals to people in need. Our Groceries business grew from 2% to 12%. Although we kept expanding, a hard, emotional decision was made: to sell Glovo in Latin America. The strategy was to be leaders everywhere, and there it just wasn’t the case.

Glovo closed its biggest financial round at €450M. With four tech hubs and more than 3,000 employees, more engineers – especially female – were hired. Six new companies were acquired to keep growing and Glovo Concepts was launched! In Spain, we adapted to the Rider’s Law, while offering more social rights and benefits to couriers worldwide through The Couriers’ Pledge. Glovo officially became carbon neutral!