Series B Round press release.

• Italian scale up picks the biggest European VC backed funding for an on-demand e-grocery marketplace
  Leading the round is FII Tech Growth, with participation from new investor Endeavor Catalyst, and current investors 360 Capital Partners and Innogest

Supermercato24, the first Italian same-day delivery service for online grocery, has just raised a €13M Series B Round. Led by FII Tech Growth, a fund managed by Fondo Italiano d’Investimento SGR, with the participation of new investor Endeavor Catalyst and current investors 360 Capital Partners and Innogest, this is the biggest European VC backed funding round for an on-demand e-grocery marketplace.

The new funding will be used to improve operations and product both for customers and for the shopper community and to expand the service to new markets. In Europe, Supermercato24 is already the biggest on-demand e-grocery marketplace in terms of revenues and is already in discussion with current and prospects retailers to expand the service across Europe.

Born in Verona, Italy, in 2014, Supermercato24 allows customers to choose their favorite supermarket among the ones closest to their location and to pick between multiple products and promotions. Then, a personal shopper tracks down products in-store and delivers them to the requested address on the very same-day, even in one hour.

Revenues comes from shipping fee, merchant fee and advertising (thanks to more than 50 CPGs customers already advertising on the platform).

Over the past three years, Supermercato24 has established a leadership position in Italy, growing revenues threefold every year, and is now partnering with more than 15 grocery retailers including the top 3 Italian retailers (measured by turnover), offering its customers the widest product assortment in Italy (more than 65.000 products). Service is now active in 23 Italian cities, with some of them already profitable at contribution margin level.

The company is lead by CEO Federico Sargenti, a former Amazon Executive who launched the Amazon FMCG Business in Italy and Spain, and by a team of international professionals with experiences in big companies like Google, Vodafone, Bain&Company, EY and EDF.

Funds will be used to further extend the service in Italy and in Europe, to expand the product offering for clients and to double-size the team – currently consisting in 60 people – by the end of 2019, by including professionals like devs, data scientists, product managers, marketing, sales and logistics experts.

“The European grocery industry is in the early phase of a massive shift from offline to online. Growth, especially in southern Europe, has been historically limited by a lack of supply but things are changing fast with the entrance of new players and the increasing investments from retailers” – said Federico Sargenti, CEO of Supermercato24 – “We believe the winning model will be the result of a collaboration between traditional grocery retailers and tech companies like Supermercato24 that acts as enabler and can scale in big and small cities. This funding will help us in achieving our ambitious growth goals, providing retailers with a competitive, fast and safe e-commerce solution and empowering our role as an industry innovator”.

“By investing in Supermercato24, Fondo Italiano d’Investimento confirms its commitment to support Italian tech companies with high potential of growth” – said Mauro Pretolani, Senior Partner of Fondo Italiano d’Investimento SGR, part of the management team of FII Tech Growth. “Supermercato24 is the leading company in a strategic sector for the Italian grocery industry as consumers can use its services to shop online at their chosen supermarket: we think it is a strategic player for the innovation of GDO, both in Italy and internationally. FII Tech Growth is actively committed to the development of S24 offering both financial and operational support”