CargoB Brings Electric Cargo Bikes to Boston
Deliveroo sees profitable half year, Sweetgreen keeps growing, egrocery sales spike
Wow, there’s so much big financial news this week that we have to take a break from our summer break. Read on for big numbers from Deliveroo, Sweetgreen and the grocery segment, with more to come as the week progresses. And for our Bostonian riders — get your butts on those CargoBs!
This week’s edition is brought to you by Yoshi Mobility.
Today:
Electric Cargo Bikes Head to Beantown
Deliveroo Ekes Out Profitable H1
Chart Time | eGrocery Lookin’ Good
Sweetgreen Automates Growth
MOBILITY | USA’s First Shared Cargo Ebikes Launch in Boston
Meet CargoB, America’s first shared cargo ebike platform, now live in the Boston region. The donation backed concept is starting with just four locations — Winter Hill, Porter Square, Jamaica Plain, and a soon to launch hub in the Boston Seaport — but it’s still a major milestone to see this urban logistics format finally make it to the States. The bikes are priced at 25 cents per minute, plus a $2.50 unlocking feee, and must be returned to the same hub that they were picked up from.
The Big Picture: In terms of tech stack, CargoB’s software runs on Joyride, which puts it in good company among other shared mobility solutions like scooters and LSVs. The electric cargo bikes are made by Urban Arrow, the same Dutch brand that powers most European systems. Back on the Old Continent, these machines are usually called “bakfiets” (container bikes) and they can be found on just about any urban street corner, picked up via an app, and then dropped off anywhere else when the trip is done. While CargoB’s still got plenty of room to grow, this is a great gateway drug to getting deliveries out of cars and onto more sustainable modes.
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3PD | Deliveroo Delivers Profitable First Half
London-based 3PD Deliveroo just reached a remarkable milestone: its first profitable half-year period. Gross transaction value rose 6% YoY to £3.69 billion ($4.7 billion), revenue climbed 2% (constant currency) to £1,028.2 billion, gross profit was up 5% and Adjusted EBITDA jumped 57%. Deliveroo reported a £1.3 million profit for the period, small but a meaningful improvement compared to the year prior’s £82.9M loss. Combined with news of a £150M stock buy back, shares rocketed up 9%.
The Big Picture: Deliveroo saw slightly stronger growth in its home turf of The UK and Ireland, but its international markets (France, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar) are moving in the right direction as well. The company thinks there’s a lot more growth to come in its grocery segment, which is currently 14% of GTV and seeing AOVs of £30-£60. CEO Will Shu is also optimistic about updates to its loyalty program, including the recently launched £19.99/mo Plus Diamond tier. “Plus customers spend 3x more than non plus customers,” he noted. “Their retention is stronger. Plus accounts for 40% of our global order volume.”
CHART TIME | Online Grocery Sales Skyrocket
Brick Meets Click has published egrocery numbers for June 2024, and things are looking good! Revenue is up 8.5% YoY, with delivery driving the vast majority of that growth. Things look even better compared to May, when overall revenue sat at just $6.9B.
FINANCE | Revenue Up 21% for Sweetgreen
The lunchtime innovators at Sweetgreen had a good quarter as well, filling up on revenue growth of 21%, hitting $184.6 million. Same store sales climbed 9%, while digital revenue percentage of sales sat at 56%, and owned (first party channels) digital rev fell a tad to 31%. The market was bowled over as well, with shares jumping almost one third.
The Big Picture: Sweetgreen is particularly optimistic about its Infinite Kitchens project, the robotic makeline that will power its busiest, delivery-oriented locations. The company’s first location saw $2.8 million in annual sales, and restaurant-level margins of 31.1% thanks to 45% lower turnover than its more human-centric locations. The company is on track to open seven new robotic locations this year, plus it plans to convert two or three existing stores to the new format. A recently opened Infinite Kitchen location in NYC produced 200 bowls in half an hour, with plans to scale towards 500 bowls/hour.
A Few Good Links
Yelp sees record net revenue in Q2. Linked Eats buys Sauce Technologies. Yum! Brands income falls. Grubhub execs optimistic about in-app wallet. Ola Electric sees strong IPO. GrubMarket buys Good Eggs at big discount. Toast ARR climbs 29% to $1.5B. DoorDash pushes safety. Instacart deepens partnership with Aldi South. Dine Brands sees meh Q2. Dutch Bros unfazed by CA fast food minimum wage laws. 7-Eleven expands diesel distro. Tech upends cash culture in Argentina. Home Chef debuts Paw Patrol collab. Jollibee plans merch drop (but they should actually sell that bucket hat…) KFC expands value menu. Domino’s launches carryout week. Popeye’s Canada turns 40. Nikola revenue hits $31.3M. USPS sees revenue up but volume down. Kroger celebrates milestones for vitamin delivery subsidiary. Deliveroo delivers sunblock via efoil. (Just checked the weather in the British beach town of Brighton and it appears to be cool, cloudy and drizzly all week…) Air taxi service heading to LA. Cycle launches brick and mortar for Dutch couriers. WeRide targets $5B valuation. Waymo begins SF freeway testing. Kazam brings EV charging to Southeast Asia.
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