Henrik Helenius’ Post

The cat is out of the bag! 🚀 I'm beyond thrilled to share with my network the latest funding of €3.9M raised by Droppe, led by OpenOcean and with the continued support from Lifeline Ventures, Illusian Family Office, and incredible figures including Miki Kuusi, Co-Founder of Wolt, Ilkka Paananen, Co-Founder of Supercell, Robert Gentz, Co-Founder of Zalando, Marianne Vikkula, COO of Wolt, and Mikko Silventola. Supporting Droppe in this fundraising effort has been an intense but rewarding journey, teaching me a lot about myself and how to create value in the ever-changing startup environment. This opportunity to wear ten hats every day and become a true generalist to support leadership has definitely given depth to how I perceive business, teams, and relationships. A huge shoutout to all the Droppers that have worked hard to make this happen, with special mention to Johannes Salmisaari, CEO of Droppe, for all the collaboration and unlimited ideas for growth. Let's keep making things happen! #StartupFunding #Fundraising #EntrepreneurLife #Droppe #OpenOcean #Startup #Teamwork #GrowthMindset #Innovation #BusinessGrowth #Strategy #TechStartups #InvestorSupport #Investment #VC #Leadership #ScalingUp #B2B #Milestones #Entrepreneurship #BusinessDevelopment #TechInnovation #Liderazgo #Emprendimiento https://lnkd.in/dnhqrUt5

... what a journey it has been for the past 2.5 years at Droppe, working amongst a pool of some the most talented people I've had the pleasure of associating with. And we're just getting started. 🙏 I'm delighted to share that we’ve raised €3.9M in funding, led by OpenOcean, with participation from Lifeline Ventures and Illusian Family Office. This funding helps Droppe create the most efficient way for businesses to source and order the supplies their operations rely on. The round was joined by leading operators and founders, including Miki Kuusi, Co-Founder of Wolt; Ilkka Paananen, Co-Founder of Supercell; Robert Gentz, Co-Founder of Zalando; and Marianne Vikkula, COO of Wolt; and Mikko Silventola, among others. Today, over 1,500 businesses, ranging from operators in local companies to Europe’s largest light manufacturing enterprises, source and manage their supplies via Droppe. Additionally, more than 200 brands have chosen Droppe as part of their core distribution strategy to expand their market share and enter new markets. While we’re excited about how far we’ve come, there is still much to be done to bring the B2B distribution online. #Droppe #sourceToOrderPlatform #b2b 💡

🍩 Why did Everli, the e-grocery giant, pack up and leave Poland? 🛒 Rewind to 2017: Italian firm Everli snaps up Polish on-demand grocery company Szopi. Fast forward to 2021, Everli packs up their operations in France and the Czech Republic. Come 2024, Poland joins the exit list, leaving Everli solely in Italy. 💸 The answer, unsurprisingly, lies in the struggle to turn a profit. But there's more to it: ⌛ An outdated business model: In 2016, operating as an external marketplace for a selection of supermarkets was cutting-edge. By 2024, however, having shoppers manually complete customer orders just didn't cut it. 🤝Lack of strong retail partnerships: For a company where majority of revenue comes from direct customer fulfillment, having a symbiotic relationship with retailers is vital. Unfortunately, Everli couldn't strike that golden partnership with Poland's key retailers. 🚛 Operational challenges: Like all direct-to-customer services, predicting demand was an uphill task. Small partnerships and operations in smaller cities didn't make optimizing delivery cost and efficiency any easier. 🚵🏻♀️ Intense competition - Today, every retailer understands e-grocery's potential for additional revenue, leading to internal distribution. Furthermore, giants such as Wolt, Bolt, Uber Glovo also launched e-grocery delivery services, fueling the competition. #foodtech #egrocery #grocerydelivery #startups #brand30

Announcing the latest round in Choice in the amount of $2.5M to support the expansion plans across Europe. 🎉🎉🎉 The current #investment round backed by J&T Ventures, Reflex Capital SE and Presto Ventures seeks to support the company's growth and expansion plans across Europe. “We invested in Choice as we like the company’s excellent operations and strong #founder who we believe can deliver on the ambitious vision in the upcoming months. Furthermore, we’re convinced that Choice will win the market as it offers complex products that cover all restaurant needs, compared to competitive products that only focus on certain features. This combination creates a distinguishing USP which makes Choice the number-one choice,” explains Adam Kocik, Managing Partner at J&T Ventures. Welcome aboard Alex Ilyash 🥂 About Choice Choice an online B2B subscription-based service allows any restaurant to create a website and set up all necessary restaurant-related business tools on a single platform with joint administration: website, applications, online menus with QR payments, table reservations, a CRM system, and much more. Additionally, the platform can be integrated with POS systems and marketplaces such as Wolt, Bolt, Glovo, Foodora, and Uber Eats.

We are happy to announce our first investment this year 💸 💸 💸 . New Nordic Ventures invested in QuickShipper, Georgia-based startup 🇬🇪 that provides a comprehensive quick commerce management platform for online merchants, offering seamless integration and optimization of delivery operations. QuickShipper also connects online merchants with the leading delivery partners in their region e.g. Glovo and Wolt, thus building mutually beneficial partnerships where merchants get access to external couriers on demand and delivery platforms improve utilisation of their couriers in non-peak hours. We are excited to support QuickShipper in their expansion. The EU 🇪🇺 is implementing a piece of legislation that will regulate how 28 million of delivery agents/couriers in Europe will be employed in nearest future pushing that the delivery platforms will need to employ their couriers. This is going to have a material impact on fixed costs of delivery platforms and thus utilisation of employees/couriers will become an important topic for such companies. QuickShipper brings a significant impact here by helping all the stakeholders to operate more efficiently and adopt the new regulatory requirements w/o loosing commercial feasibility (e.g. maintaining delivery fees at reasonable level). Thanks a lot Levan Kiladze, Mariam Akhvlediani ⚡️ and the entire QuickShipper team for your trust and for the opportunity to make this journey together!

🚀 Exciting startup news! 🚀 Sparqle, co-founded by Ruurd Tjeerdema, Tim van Alphen & Maurice Stam, is on a mission to revolutionize delivery with emission-free shipping! This startup is not just another delivery platform. With a vision for sustainability like no other, Sparqle has caught the eye of investors, including former directors from industry giants like Just Eat Takeaway.com and Deliveroo, securing €1.2 million for rapid expansion across Europe. 🌍💰 Their unique approach? A self-developed software that streamlines operations from start to finish, ensuring every delivery is eco-friendly and efficient. Sparqle isn't just delivering packages; they're redefining the way we think about last-mile logistics. 📦 From B2C to B2B, Sparqle offers a seamless delivery experience that prioritizes both sustainability and customer satisfaction. With plans to set the standard for emission-free shipping and expand globally, Sparqle is paving the way for a greener future in the logistics industry. 🌱🚚 Read the full article (in Dutch) here: https://lnkd.in/eAzyhV3d!

Wolt, the US-Finnish technology company and delivery platform, is set to revolutionize Albania’s delivery landscape with its grand entrance into the market, as of Wednesday March 13th. PFR Ventures Molten Ventures Keiretsu Forum Finch Capital Multiple Capital Market One Capital Karma Ventures Creandum EuroCom CX Burda Principal Investments #venturecapital #vcfunding #vc #startups #accelerator ##VentureCapital #StartupFunding #Investment #VC #AngelInvestors #SeedFunding #StartupFinance #TechInvestment #EarlyStageInvesting #VentureFund #Entrepreneurship #FundingRound #StartupEcosystem #InnovationInvestment #CapitalRaising #VentureDeals #StartupCommunity #Scaleup #FintechInvestment #GrowthCapital

It seems like a strategic decision for Getir to prioritize its home market in Turkey, but the outcome for investors in Gorillas is undoubtedly disappointing. The dynamics of the competitive landscape and market conditions can be quite challenging to navigate. #getir #exitstrategy

We moved back to Denmark 🇩🇰 for several reasons. One was that Marcus Maar started Plantbox.dk 🌱some months ago.. and it literally took off. It has been awesome to follow how a passion project turned into a business.. and today you can find his products in many Meny Denmark stores around the country - as well as online on Nemlig, Wolt, and other places coming up ❤️. It became practically difficult to manage all the logistical aspects of a scaling venture, as we had to turn down many opportunities and spent less time together as well as a family. Being here and being able to support each other makes more sense. So here we are attending our very first Høstmarked - hopefully not the last 🥳💪... also I realized it’s pretty cool that we’re both entrepreneurs as we kinda both find it easy to navigate the startup life and all the challenges & uncertainties it brings 😅 - and we’re definitely never bored 🤩 (attending the Høstmarked right after a wedding celebration the other day). Did you try any of the products? #plantbased #vegetarlivet #startuplife #iværksætteri

On Monday, the Turkish speedy grocery company Getir announced it is now exiting the US, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK entirely. Now, with just a handful of players remaining in Europe, Getir’s exit from the continent presents both an opportunity and a moment of reflection for startups still trying to make a success of the business model. Some industry watchers blame the tough unit economics that come with getting orders to customers within 10 minutes, while others say Getir tried to grow too fast, too soon. So which quick commerce startups are left in Europe, and what lessons can they learn from Getir’s European experiment? 👀 #speedygrocery #consumertech #getir