Turkish Getir has announced that it’s beginning a mass redundancy process as it prepares to exit the Spanish market, according to sources in the company and local media.
A Getir courier recently told the Spanish newspaper El Periódico that the company was struggling to generate sufficient revenue from its dark stores.
Recently, Getir announced that it planned to exit France — citing problems with regulators seeking to close warehouses in city centres — and had also filed for bankruptcy in the country. Its 1,800 strong workforce are still in limbo, unsure whether redundancies are going ahead. One employee at Getir shared with Sifted that more markets are likely to be closed down soon, as the company narrows its focus in a push towards profitability.
In response to a request for comment from Sifted, a Getir spokesperson tells Sifted that the company today “came together with the legal representation of the workers to initiate the collective redundancy process in Spain”.
Getir was also reported to be in talks to acquire German rival Flink, though insiders tell Sifted that the negotiations swiftly collapsed. Getir declined to comment at the time.
Jonas Rest from German Manager Magazine investigated the situation in Germany and after the takeover of Gorillas, things don’t look good for Getir: Getir is facing a massive devaluation, according to insiders. In the next round of financing, the valuation will drop by at least two-thirds (at least $8 billion less). Cashburn is expected to remain very high ($80 million to $100 million per month on average in the first quarter of 2023), and fundraising seems difficult.
The failure of the Flink takeover is an enormous problem: Flink is about twice as large in Germany as Getir and Gorillas combined. As long as Flink is in the market, Getir does not want to shut down the Gorillas brand, as it is apparently feared that around half of its users will switch to the competition. But Getir doesn’t want to continue without its own (less-known) brand either. This leads to massive inefficiencies.
