Dive Brief:

• Gopuff announced on Thursday that it has acquired Fancy, a U.K. startup that delivers groceries and daily essentials in under 30 minutes. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Founded in early 2020, Fancy operates a vertically integrated model similar to Gopuff, with operations in six cities currently and five more in the coming month, including London.
• Gopuff said this is “the first of many steps” in its plans to invest in new international markets, beginning with the U.K. and Europe.

Dive Insight:

Gopuff is showing its ambitions aren’t limited to the U.S. with a move that brings it into a much more crowded market for rapid delivery.

While 30-minute delivery is still fairly underdeveloped stateside, Europe has become saturated with startups targeting the space, with some touting delivery in as little as 10 or 15 minutes. Investors have poured more than $14 billion into firms like Gorillas, Getir, Weezy and Jiffy that fulfill from small dark stores, often using electric bikes and scooters to zip around city streets ferrying orders to customers.

Sparked by pandemic-era demand, these companies offer a rapid alternative to the next-day service favored by Ocado and brick-and-mortar retailers, with a focus on young consumers. Started in January 2020, Fancy offers groceries and other daily essentials, and it bears a striking resemblance to Gopuff, from its vertically integrated structure to its focus on marketing to university students. The company currently operates in the cities of Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham and plans to expand into London, Sheffield and Nottingham in the coming weeks, among others.

Gopuff, which is valued at nearly $9 billion, said it will add to Fancy’s U.K. staff and use its technology and expertise to boost the upstart’s fortunes. TechCrunch first reported on the pending acquisition in February.

The acquisition could strengthen Gopuff’s U.S. operations as it gains insights and innovations in a busy international market. It comes the same week that the company and Uber announced plans to collaborate on an online convenience store available through Uber Eats and several months after Gopuff acquired alcohol retailer BevMo.