Getir, the grocery delivery app once valued at nearly £9.7 billion, is reportedly close to pulling the plug on its operations in Britain in a move that would spark concerns for well over 1,000 jobs.
Sky News claimed in recent report that Getir is soon set to withdraw from the three remaining European markets in which it operates- the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.
In total, thousands of jobs will be put at risk, including approximately 1,500 in the UK, stated the report.
The process through which Getir, which has a multimillion-pound commercial partnership with the Premier League's Tottenham Hotspur, plans to exit the UK is still unclear. Sky News claimed that it could involve a sale of its assets or an insolvency procedure although they added that no decisions had been taken.
Earlier this week, Sky News reported that the company was weighing a string of asset sales, including FreshDirect, a US-based online grocer it only acquired late last year, as part of efforts to repair its balance sheet.
The company has already pulled out of a number of countries, including Italy and Spain, in an attempt to reduce losses. Its retreat highlights the slumping valuations of technology companies once-hailed as the new titans of major economies.
Last September, Getir also announced a sharp cut in the size of its workforce, axing roughly 2,500 jobs, or about 10 per cent of its global employee base.
Founded in 2015, Getir was one of a crop of companies promising city-based consumers rapid delivery of groceries and other essential products. During the COVID crisis, the industry saw sales explode.
Getir itself bought Gorillas in December 2022.
