There’s a fairly sizable buzz about UK home delivery services at the moment. Startups and investors have noticed how we have become so reliant on those supermarket deliveries during the pandemic that they have come up with ever more creative ways of getting the things we require to us as efficiently as possible.
Weezy, for example, is targeting impatient consumers with its 15 mins grocery delivery service. While Dija recently secured £14.4 million in funding to get it to consumers in less than 10 minutes.
Now another UK startup Bother has secured £4,4 million investment to offer customer what it calls the boring stuff. It harnesses some clever AI technology to learn about its customers and what they are likely to need and when. It puts the product in the basket and the user just needs to approve it. Basically, this includes nonfresh food so staples like washing up liquid, oat milk, toilet rolls etc. The company prides itself on ‘no subscriptions, no substitutions, just free next day delivery.’
The money has come from Sun Hung Kai & Co and Venrex Investment Management, who among other things were early investors of Uber, Just Eat and Not on the High Street.
The company is also bigging up its green credentials. Douglas Morton, Bother Founder & CEO comments: “There is no reason for dishwasher tablets to be delivered in a refrigerated van. It is neither convenient, cost-effective nor environmentally sustainable..
One of Bother’s main goals is to redress the inefficiencies that have built up over generations of traditional grocery shopping. After years of lagging innovation in the industry, there is a real need to challenge the hold that supermarkets have, observe and forecast changes in consumer behaviour, and provide a solution that offers consumers what they really want. As we continue to present our ‘Shop simple. Live smart.’ model, we hope to be at the forefront of innovation in retail, giving our customers the ability to simplify the basics, and focus on the things that matter.’”
Mr Seng Huang Lee, Executive Chairman of Sun Hung Kai & Co, comments: “As part of our Venture Capital business, we look for companies that are thinking about real-world problems and providing innovative solutions that have the potential to scale, the opportunity to disrupt large industries and the expertise to execute. Bother has positioned itself very well in all these areas within an industry that seems overdue for a change. We are excited to add this investment to our portfolio of disruptive global companies.”
Mark Esiri, Managing Partner and Founder, Venrex Investment Management, comments: “Venrex loves to back unconventional people, going against the tide, in conventional industries. The last investment banker to go into groceries was Tim Steiner at Ocado. Douglas Morton is someone who recognises that the best opportunities are, as my former boss used to say, “where the rubber meets the sky”. Big and innovative ideas meeting crisp execution.”
