Mobility/Logistics/Opinion/ “With big bucks, Scandinavia is getting ready for food deliveries” The Scandinavian war over food is ready to begin. With Kinnevik taking a large piece of the cake, the market is ready. Will big investments in food delivery companies help Scandinavia's online grocery shopping? Will big investments in food delivery companies help Scandinavia's online grocery shopping? \Sustainability Which companies are set to benefit from the EU carbon tax on shipping? By Isabelle Gerretsen 5 May 2022 Mobility/Logistics/Opinion/ “With big bucks, Scandinavia is getting ready for food deliveries” The Scandinavian war over food is ready to begin. With Kinnevik taking a large piece of the cake, the market is ready. By Mimi Billing Thursday 14 February 2019 By Mimi Billing Thursday 14 February 2019 Buying food online is great if you hate queuing in a supermarket or carrying heavy bags. Best case scenario, you select the food you want, pay for it and get it delivered straight to your door. In Sweden though, which has a reputation as an early adopter when it comes to new technology, this has been a complete failure. Less than 2% of the overall grocery shopping in Sweden is done online. Denmark is doing only slightly better and in Norway, it’s about the same as Sweden or worse. This is compared to 7.5% in the UK, 5.6% in France and 3.2% in Czechia. So there is potential. This is why players such as Kinnevik have started to invest in this market. Last year, the investment firm invested €31.4m in the Norwegian startup Kolonial, which was founded in 2013. They have set a goal to be able to deliver food to 40% of Norwegians (for free). This is a big challenge, given that people are pretty spread out in Norway. Sweden’s Mathem, with a similar business model to Kolonial, has said it can deliver food to 50% of the population. If you buy for more than €70, delivery is free. Given these big ambitions, it was not such a surprise when Kinnevik on Thursday announced that it has bought 38% stake in Mathem for approximately €90m. Can companies like Kolonial and Mathem change the situation in Scandinavia? Most probably. With the failure of the big supermarkets to attract customers to their online shops, there is a big gap in the market. As long as the supermarkets do not realise the demand for free deliveries all hours of the day, the customers may be tempted to go with a new supplier. And with the big bag of cash and experience that Kinnevik delivers, maybe these companies can help increase the percentage of food shopping online. With the potential of taking market shares from the big grocery shops, big money spenders will most probably continue to look out for more potential investments in this field. Related Articles Exclusive: Another startup from ex-Monzonauts launches, backed by Tom Blomfield By Amy Lewin Click here to read more How can startups fix the dirty ‘last mile’? By Sarah Drumm Click here to read more What’s next for on-demand food delivery? By Amy Lewin Click here to read more Why Octopus Ventures is doubling down on “Industry 4.0” By Amy Lewin Click here to read more Most Read 1 \Startup Life Where are Europe’s top digital nomad villages? 2 \Public & Academic UCL and Oxford are Europe’s ‘worst universities for spinouts’ 3 \Venture Capital The top early-stage investors in the Netherlands 4 \Fintech Payment flows API startup Formance raises $3.1m pre-seed 5 \Venture Capital Top early-stage investors in the Nordics
Exclusive: Another startup from ex-Monzonauts launches, backed by Tom Blomfield By Amy Lewin Click here to read more