InstaShop, a hyperlocal grocery app startup founded in 2015 by two college students, sold to Delivery Hero for a whopping $360 million

At the time when most college students are busy dividing their time between studying and partying, Ioanna Angelidaki and John Tsioris were busy working on their startup. The two Greek partners co-founded InstaShop, a hyperlocal grocery app, and an online marketplace for supermarkets, pharmacies, pet shops, and other businesses.

Yesterday, they announced that their grocery delivery app was acquired for $360 million by Delivery Hero, a European multinational online food-delivery service based in Berlin, Germany. The acquisition is part of Delivery Hoo’s global expansion as it seeks to take advantage of the surging demand for online shopping in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Based in Dubai, InstaShop was founded in 2015 by Greek entrepreneurs Ioanna Angelidaki and its co-founder and CEO, John Tsioris. Through its marketplace app, InstaShop connects users to nearby outlets for fast deliveries, in the UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon, Egypt, and Greece, with plans to expand globally.

InstaShop is focused on making groceries easier for the everyday life of a consumer. InstaShop provides retailers access to an untapped revenue channel, while consumers gain access to convenient delivery from local grocery stores. It also enables users to shop at local supermarkets directly from mobile or computer and receive orders at home within minutes or at a scheduled time.

In a recent interview with Forbes Middle East, co-founder Ioanna Angelidaki said, “As the impact of the 2020 pandemic hit, demand for InstaShop boomed since mid-February app downloads have increased by 70%, pre-existing users have increased their daily orders by 53%, and the average basket value has increased 61%.”

Currently, InstaShop has partnered with about 1,500 vendors and operates in five countries: the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, and Lebanon – with more than 500,000 active users in the first half of 2020. Over the last five years, InstaShop has attracted around $10 million in outside investment from Venture Friends, Jabbar Internet Group, and Souq.com (now Amazon) through two each public and private funding rounds.

As part of the acquisition agreement, InstaShop will continue to operate as an independent brand under the current leadership. Delivery Hero has a strong presence in 39 of 44 countries it operates in regions such as Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

We wrote about Delivery Hero back in June after it joined forces with Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway.com to acquired the U.S.-based Grubhub. However, spokespersons for the two companies declined to comment.  Founded in Berlin in 2011, Delivery Hero is a worldwide network of online food ordering sites, operating in 21 countries and with over 73,000 restaurant partners.