January 19 (SeeNews) - Spanish delivery startup Glovo said on Tuesday it has entered into a 100 million euro ($120.6 million) strategic partnership with Swiss real estate firm Stoneweg to expand its Quick-Commerce division in Romania, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
Under the partnership agreement, Stoneweg will build and refurbish properties for delivery-only convenience markets, or 'dark stores', in countries where Glovo is already operating, the Barcelona-based company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Glovo aims to reach 100 dark stores by the end of the year in Bucharest, Valencia, Rome and Porto, from 18 currently located in Barcelona, Madrid, Milan and Lisbon.
"We believe that the third-generation of commerce is already upon us. Following the closing of Stoneweg’s investment, we are consolidating our strategic commitment to Q-Commerce, which will allow us to better connect people with a wide variety of available products in their cities," Glovo CEO and co-founder Oscar Pierre said.
"In the wake of COVID-19, we believe that dark stores represent the future of post-pandemic retail, and I think we’ll see a permanent shift in consumer habits towards same-day and instant delivery," Pierre added.
Glovo will initially focus on growing its network of dark stores in Romania, Spain, Italy and Portugal, but aims to expand the partnership to additional European countries.
"The Q-Commerce division responds to the rapidly evolving demands of the modern consumer. For Stoneweg, it also represents an opportunity to offer diversity to our cients through a new class of retail asset in cities where Glovo operates," Stoneweg founding partner and head of acquisitions for Europe, Joaquín Castellví, said.
Glovo entered Romania in May 2018 by launching operations in Bucharest. The company was founded in Barcelona in 2015 as an on-demand courier service that purchases, picks up, and delivers products ordered through its mobile application. It now operates in 22 countries and employs over 1,900 people globally.
Stoneweg is a real estate investment company established in 2015 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
($=0.829 euro)