Gopuff has confirmed it is buying UK grocery appDija .- Insider reported in June that Dija was in sale discussions with Gopuff and German rival Gorillas.
- This marks Gopuff's second UK acquisition after it bought Fancy in May.
US grocery delivery firm Gopuff is buying up 9-month-old British grocery delivery app Dija, marking its second UK acquisition within a few months.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Insider's Callum Burroughs first reported in June that Dija was in talks with potential acquirers including Gopuff.
The deal boosts Gopuff's presence in the UK, and gives it a route into Spain and France, where Dija expanded in April. Gopuff said it will operate across the three European countries with some 40 "dark stores" and 200 employees.
Dija will continue to operate as a standalone brand for the time being.
"For the last eight years, Gopuff has been the market and category leader in the United States," said Dija CEO Alberto Menolascina. "Together, combined with our team's extensive experience of building and scaling food and delivery companies across Europe, we are perfectly positioned to lead the everyday essentials space in Europe and beyond."
The deal is indicative of a land grab in the superfast grocery delivery sector.
Gopuff was founded in 2013, evolving from a hookah delivery service for college students into a major convenience store delivery operator. Consumers can order anything from snacks to alcohol via its app to their home, with deliveries fulfilled in microfulfilment centers, or dark stores, and shipped out by gig workers.
The idea has exploded in Europe over the last 18 months, coinciding with pandemic stay-at-home orders.
Dija was incorporated in November 2020 by former Deliveroo employees Alberto Menolascina and Yusuf Saban, with the aim of offering deliveries of convenience store items in as little as 10 minutes.
At the time, Insider reported that the firm was in ultimately successful talks to raise $20 million from Blossom Capital, Creandum, and Deliveroo-backer Index Ventures before it even had an app or website.
Dija launched its service in London in March 2021 and immediately faced competition from other fast-growing competitors such as Germany's Gorillas, Weezy, and the longer-established Getir. The explosive growth of the sector has also attracted the attention of large-scale delivery firms like US delivery giant DoorDash, which is in talks to invest in Gorillas.
Around $14 billion has been invested into the delivery apps since the start of the pandemic, according to figures from Pitchbook. The rate of investment intensified in 2021 too with more being poured into the sector in the opening three months than the whole of last year.
It's likely that further consolidation will follow in the sector, thanks to the huge amount of cash required by the various players to out-compete each other for customers, riders, and marketing.
Nazim Salur, whose firm Getir is valued at $7.5 billion, told Insider in May: "[The] investment amounts early are quite high, much higher than other startups need. You need a lot of people, a lot of stores. A lot of customers, and you need them fast.
"And now, in selected cities, there's more than one or two players, so if you're a little slow, somebody else can win the market.
"If you're not doing the right things early, the investors that back you early may not be there for the following rounds."