There’s a high demand for delivery companies, especially in big cities. So, the fastest ones get the greatest success. Here’s the story of how Getir succeeded by offering the fastest delivery of products: It only takes ten minutes to get what you need without leaving home.
Getir was founded in 2015 by a Turkish entrepreneur, Nazim Salur. Salur was well-known for founding the first local online taxi ordering app—BiTaksi. While he was running the taxi company, he was also offering a delivery service via the app when he noticed an increasing demand for delivery in Istanbul. It made him think about launching a new delivery app, and that’s how Getir, which means “bring”, was born.
Getir started with a team of 200 members, which was separate from the BiTaksi team. Besides big stores, Getir decided to include bakkals- small stores located üithin neighbourhood as well to complete the delivery in 10 minutes. “10 minutes almost means right now,” says Nazim Salur. “We wanted to make the delivery faster than people going to the nearest store.”
Through the Getir app, users could track their orders on the map, and pay through multiple payment systems options. As the idea began to flourish within the European side of Istanbul, it soon spread into the Asian part as well as, including other big cities in Turkey. Currently, Getir operates in 81 cities in different countries across the world, including Turkey, UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Portugal. Early in 2022, Getir entered the U.S market.
Nazim Salur stated that his goal is to expand into the megacities such as Rio, San Paolo, etc. as he believes that this is an important problem to solve in big cities, and Getir offers a solution. But what reasons lie under the success of Getir? Let’s dive deep into them.
Background: The founder of Getir Nazim Salur majored in Business and worked in the business and technology area. He also gained experience as an entrepreneur before founding Getir.
Marketing strategy: Most of Getir users came from BiTaksi as the company was focusing on market showcases. They promoted the idea amongst BiTaksi users—an already-made target audience interested in using such an application.
Covid- 19 Pandemic: Remember the times when leaving home was nearly impossible? One of the main things people needed during lockdown was fast delivery with a huge variation. So, this was one of the ideas that accelerated because of the pandemic effect.
Big city effect: Salur believes that one of the key points which led Getir to success is traffic in the big cities. “I am the one who focuses on solving an existing problem, rather than gaining money,” says Nazim Salur. He acknowledges that fast delivery is much more demanding in big cities with big traffic because Getir “brings” a solution to them.
How did Getir expand to the global market?
The company attracted the attention of Sir Michael, a Welsh-born tech investor, who is also a partner of Sequoia Capital. After flying to Istanbul and spending time in the company’s head office, he agreed to invest 25 million USD. A further $13m was contributed by undisclosed investors in Brazil and Turkey, bringing the total amount raised in a “Series A” round to $38m. A year later, Michael Moritz, a venture capitalist of the Silicon Valley, backed Getir with a 40 million USD funding.
Getir’s approach to the complexities presented by grocery and food delivery is a Turkish delight prepared with a fresh recipe and unexpected ingredients,” Sir Michael said in a written statement. Also, Alex Ham, chief executive of Numis Securities, which advised on the Series A funding round, said he hoped the interest in Getir would “shine a bit of a light” on the Turkish market.
According to Mert Salur, Getir hit huge success in 2021, extending the number of countries to 9, cities to 118, and employees to more than 4000 all over the world. He also stated that the team was very enthusiastic, diligent, and open to giving and receiving feedback, which helps them develop as a team and big family.
Recently, Nazim Salur tweeted that Getir had the most downloads across Europe.
Recently, Techcrunch announced that Getir has reached a value of nearly 12 billion USD and gained a decacorn status.