Former Delivery Hero Exec Founds Jokr For Hyperlocal Delivery

German entrepreneur Ralf Wenzel has launched a new global rapid delivery platform aimed at delivering a range of products from warehouses within 15 minutes of the order being placed through its app, Reuters wrote on Thursday (April 15)

Known as Jokr, this startup is backed by venture capitalists HV Capital, Tiger Global and Softbank and is already live in Mexico City, Lima and Sao Paulo. Rollouts are due to follow in New York and Bogota, followed by other cities in Europe and Latin America.

“We are building an Amazon on steroids,” Wenzel told Reuters in an interview. “It’s not just convenience on demand but a new generation of retail.”

Wenzel began the online delivery company Foodpanda before joining forces with Niklas Östberg at Delivery Hero — a global food delivery company headquartered in Berlin.

In contrast to these food-centric businesses, Jokr will offer a range of retail products, not as a marketplace but “as a retailer in its own right,” Reuters said, “squeezing costs by cutting out the middleman and buying directly from suppliers.”

Jokr will distribute products through networks of small local warehouses, often occupying retail space that fell out of use due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wenzel declined to comment on the level of financial backing involved in Jokr.

However, q-commerce (the “q” stands for quick) has been attracting a significant amount of funding recently. PYMNTS reported earlier this month that Spanish courier Glovo grabbed $530 million in Series F funding, marking the largest fundraising figure for a startup in the history of Spain. The big score comes just after Deliveroo, another food delivery darling, raised over $2 billion before appearing on the London Stock Exchange earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Reuters points out that there’s also the Turkish rapid food delivery startup Getir, whose aggressive launch led to round valuing it at $2.6 billion, and the $1 billion Berlin-based startup Gorillas.