Fulfil Announces $60M Series B as Grocers Expand Delivery Capabilities

As grocers look to escape reliance on aggregators, tech providers are offering new automated solutions.

Fulfil, a startup that offers robotic micro-fulfillment center (MFC) solutions for grocers to more efficiently pick and pack eCommerce orders, announced Monday (Feb. 27) that it has raised $60 million in its Series B round.

“To address the many challenges facing online grocery, retailers must adopt efficient automation that substantially reduces costs and provides the accuracy, quality and convenience customers expect,” Fulfil CEO and President Mir Aamir said in a statement. “That’s why our fully automated solution represents such a revolutionary step forward. [It makes] online grocery retailing profitable while meeting customer expectations…”

Across the grocery industry, major players and independents alike have been looking to improve their fulfillment capabilities to escape reliance on third parties, and automation has played a key role in these efforts. For instance, Walmart, the world’s largest grocer, discussed these investments in its most recent earnings report.

“In September, we opened a next-gen fulfillment center in Illinois,” Chief Financial Officer John Rainey said on the earnings call. “This 1.1-million-square-foot facility features robotics, machine learning, and automated storage, resulting in increased productivity and a better service for our customers at faster delivery times. [Our automated fulfillment centers] use robotics and AI to fill online orders more quickly.”

Similarly, the United States’ largest pure-play grocer Kroger, has been working with United Kingdom-based grocery technology company Ocado Group to expand its network of automated customer fulfillment centers (CFCs). The retailer discussed this effort on its most recent earnings call in December.

“We saw back-to-back quarters of strong digital growth led by our delivery solutions,” CEO Rodney McMullen said. “We’re investing in digital growth initiatives, including expanding our Kroger delivery network in new and existing geographies.”

Moreover, major U.K.-based supermarket chain Asda announced earlier this month that it is partnering with digital consulting company Publicis Sapient to create an eGrocery business that will allow the grocer to transition away from relying on its former owner Walmart (which sold off Asda back in 2020) to fulfill online sales.

“[This] work is singularly focused on enabling Asda to be independent of Walmart and enabling the retailer to evolve and grow, focusing on exceptional usability and customer experience,” Julian Skelly, senior managing partner at Publicis Sapient, said in a statement.

Certainly, the demand for delivery options is widespread. Research from PYMNTS’ study “Big Retail’s Innovation Mandate: Convenience and Personalization,” created in collaboration with ACI Worldwide, which drew from a survey of 300 major retailers in the U.S. and U.K., found that 76% of grocers think consumers would be very or extremely likely to switch merchants if they were not able to order products for delivery.

Plus, research from the July edition of PYMNTS’ ConnectedEconomy series, “The ConnectedEconomy Monthly Report: The Rise of the Smart Home,” which drew from a May survey of more than 2,600 U.S. consumers, found that one in four consumers order groceries online for home delivery every week and 40% do so every month.

As grocers look to meet this demand, even smaller players are looking to build out their direct fulfillment capabilities to retain the entirety of the sale, own the transaction and collect customer data. For instance, earlier this month, independent grocer Heinen’s, which has 23 locations across Ohio and Illinois, announced that it is switching to fulfilling delivery and pickup orders in-house, pulling its stores from Instacart’s marketplace.

According to findings from PYMNTS’ study “Changes in Grocery Shopping Habits and Perception,” which drew from a December survey of more than 2,400 U.S. consumers, 45% of grocery shoppers buy groceries online at least some of the time. However, only 7% of grocery shoppers do so all the time, while a far greater 54% shop in stores all the time.

However, the share of consumers shopping digitally is on the rise. That 7% figure marks a 36-fold increase from pre-pandemic.