Australian grocery delivery startup MilkRun has recently come to an unfortunate end. The company had to lay off 400 staff due to the global economic uncertainty. According to Forbes Australia, co-founder Dany Milham notified the staff that the business would cease operation on April 14th.
MilkRun started in 2021 and launched with a healthy $11 million seed round. This was then followed by a bigger $75 million round, which included investors such as US-based Tiger Global Management. In order to remain profitable, the company announced in February that a staggering 20% of its then staff would have to be made redundant. Dany Milham explained to the employees that this decision was taken, “in the current environment”, due to the worsening economic and capital market conditions.
The global grocery delivery scenario is already looking pretty dismal, with competition increasing and the pandemic causing a significant dip in demand. According to McKinsey, more than $5.8 billion has been invested globally into adark convenience stores’ over the past nine months. In addition, players such as Gopuff have been forced to make their third round of layoffs in 2021, as well as cut ties with three countries.
Dany Milham, the co-founder of MilkRun is a highly-experienced tech entrepreneur. He and his team have a prior trackrecord of success in the convenience goods vertical, creating a well-known café brand, Gumsha. Since the beginning of the pandemic, he and the MilkRun team have worked relentlessly to bring convenient grocery delivery to the masses. However, due to the global circumstances and the effects of the pandemic, the company could not withstand the immense pressure of market uncertainty.
Despite this unfortunate setback, new and exciting tech opportunities are always around the corner. Companies such as Dell Alienware recently released new power-packed laptops with advanced specs. In addition, Chinese tech giant Alibaba launched ChatGPT, the equivalent of OpenAI’s AI chatbot and Tongyi Qianwen will be integrated into its DingTalk system.
Although the unfortunate closure of MilkRun is a significant loss, it can’t stop innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. The tech industry is on the rise with companies and entrepreneurs building products and services that are reshaping the world for the better. Despite the unfortunate closure of MilkRun, the future of the industry looks bright and full of exciting possibilities.
