Gorillas, a startup of which Turkish young man Kağan Sümer is the father and co-founder, reached a value of 3 billion dollars in a short time. The Berlin-based startup, which delivers fast to its customers in 10 minutes, attracted the attention of investors while increasing the profit expectations of existing investors. The successful startup, which is constantly on the agenda of the German media, started to serve in 25 German cities and 9 countries.
Startups that have achieved great success in the world in recent years have started to receive billions of investments. Many startups, especially delivery, became unicorn or decacorn. Gorillas, a startup of which Turkish teenager Kağan Sümer is the father and co-founder, reached a value of 1 billion dollars in a short period of 10 months. The startup named Gorillas, which delivers food by bicycle, which Kağan Sümer and three of his friends founded in Berlin in May 2020, has become a startup worth 1 billion dollars in ten months. Gorillas, whose motto is to deliver the ordered products within 10 minutes at the latest, has achieved this success, and there is no other startup in Europe that has achieved this success in such a short period of time.
The current value of Gorillas has reached around 3 billion dollars. (July 2022) In an article about Sümer, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper said, “Kağan Sümer has managed to establish the most exciting German Startup in a long time. He just knows how to go full speed.” The project is based on the idea of delivering food products in warehouses created in different places in the city to customers within ten minutes by bicycle couriers. Gorillas couriers in black uniforms offer Germans an unaccustomed shopping comfort. Investors liked this idea, too. This service, which was especially accepted during the quarantine period, brought an investment of 44 million and 290 million dollars to Sümer, respectively. With these investments, Gorillas reached the Unicorn level. The development of Gorillas was so rapid that Sumer opened new warehouses once a week from time to time. After 15 months, Gorillas started to serve in 25 German cities and 9 countries. One of the cities that Gorillas serve is New York. After all these successes, 1 billion dollars more investment came.
High inflation, which is the common problem of the whole world, has slowed down the startup, but growth continues despite this. Investors turned to more profitable investments in an inflationary environment, and startups with long-term returns began to attract less attention. On the other hand, existing investors also increased their profit expectations. Sumer took measures quickly and decisively. Investments in four countries were reduced to a minimum. For example, in the USA, investments were suspended in other cities, as previously planned. Operations continue only in New York. In addition, half of the administrative staff of 600 people were exited. These outbursts were an additional negative PR for Gorillas, who had previously faced criticism in the German media with a strike by a group of employees in Berlin.
Sumer entered the radar of the German media with his incredible success in a short time. Every step taken by the Gorillas is being watched. Even minor employee issues are featured in the national media. The biggest problem of Gorillas, one of the most successful startups in German history, is that the German media always looks at such rapid growth with concern. Most of the employees and especially the customers do not have any serious complaints. However, it is difficult to say that the media treated him fairly. In fact, problems that can be considered reasonable are exaggerated in the media. It is possible to see this situation in the headline of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which recently published a long article about Kagan Sumer: "Bicycle against the wall". It is a fact that Gorillas are going fast, but the wall allegedly opposite is not real, but an imaginary wall. However, it should not crash into these walls, which is the dream of Sumer.
Managers resigned over rapid progress
The rapidly growing venture in a short period of 15 months worried the managers and their partners. Jörg Kattner, one of the partners of Gorillas, left about a year after the establishment, thinking that Gorillas had grown too fast and strong. Felix Chroborg, one of the Gorillas managers, was able to withstand Sümer's tempo for 9 months and left for the same reasons. Ronn Gottschlich, who was a manager at the Lidl grocery chain before, resigned from his managerial position at Gorillas a year later because he could not get used to the rapid growth.