Gopuff heads to the UK as the on-demand delivery company lands its first international expansion

On-demand delivery company Gopuff scooped up several companies via acquisition so far this year, and one in particular — Fancy, a United Kingdom-based last-mile delivery platform — signaled the move it would make next: Gopuff’s services are now available in the UK.

The Spring Garden-headquartered company announced its first international expansion Tuesday, saying it was now operational in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield, reaching millions of new customers. It plans to be in 33 UK cities by mid-next year.

In August, Gopuff also purchased Dija, a European instant needs delivery platform that was founded in 2020. That company followed a similar business model of stocking micro-fulfillment centers across major metropolitan areas such as London, Paris, Madrid and Valencia.

Gopuff’s most recent fundraising round — a $1 billion investment from Blackstone’s Horizon platform, Guggenheim Investments, Hedosophia, MSD Partners, Adage Capital, Fidelity Management, Research Company, SoftBank’s Vision Fund 1, Atreides Management and Eldridge — was focused on this international expansion. The company said in July it would be accelerating its strategic business initiatives and further expanding across North America, the UK and Europe.

“When looking at expanding into Europe, we were extremely attracted to the similar models, infrastructure, loyal customer bases and talent we saw in both Dija and Fancy,” said Rafael IIishayev, cofounder and co-CEO of Gopuff, in a statement this week. “By combining Gopuff’s technology, scale and deep experience leveraging existing physical infrastructure, with the local market knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit of the Fancy and Dija teams, we can bring a game-changing and unparalleled experience to UK customers.”

With this expansion, both Fancy and Dija have transitioned to the Gopuff app, the company said. Gopuff offers an end-to-end control of its delivery supply chain, and customers will pay a flat fee of £1.79 per order. As it’s done in Philadelphia and other markets, Gopuff plans to offer local favorites to its UK customers, like from ice cream maker Little Moons and independent coffee sellers Noxy Brothers.

“Over the last eight years we have continued to define the instant needs category and shown significant and sustainable growth across the US,” said Yakir Gola, cofounder and co-CEO. “Our goal was always to be the world’s go-to solution for everyday needs, and making Gopuff available in the UK is just the start of our international expansion.”