The COVID-19 pandemic has been a true gold rush for food delivery startups – as the world went into lockdown, people ordered. These companies promised fast delivery of groceries from local stores using bicycles and scooters, and as demand skyrocketed, investors cast money in the thriving industry.

But now, amid rising inflation and a post-pandemic downturn, the quick commerce market is undergoing rapid consolidation with small companies are being swallowed up by a few big players.

Founded in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, a Germany-based grocery delivery start-up Considerable remains one of Europe’s last remaining independent grocery delivery groups. But that could change: TTurkish competitor getir is in talks to acquire the startup, Financial Times reports.

The’s talking just five months after Getir took over the Berlin-based rival Gorillas in a $1.2 billion deal that valued the combined group at $10 billion, making it Europe’s largest fast trading company. Getir operates in about 50 cities in seven European countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal.

Parallel to the takeover talks, Flink wants to raise $ 100 million from existing investors at a valuation of $ 1 billion for the entire company. This is a major deviation from mid-2022, when the start-up is at a standstill loss makingwas valued at $5 billion.

Despite turbulent economic times and less ask of consumers, the German core business of the startup wants to be profitable by the end of this year. It also has subsidiaries in France and the Netherlands and hopes overall operations will be in the green by the end of 2024.

It is still unclear how much Getir is willing to pay for Flink. There is also no guarantee that an agreement will be reached, FT said, citing people familiar with the matter. However, any takeover could be streamlined by the fact that Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company has a stake in both companies.

The merger would further consolidate the European food delivery market, which has seen a number of major acquisitions in recent years. In addition to Getir’s blockbuster buyout of Gorillas, it also acquired British Weezy and Spanish Blok in 2021. Based in the US Goof bought British startups Dija and Fancy in the same year, and Flink took over the French startup Cajoo in 2022.

If the acquisition closes, Getir’s only competitor in the European market will be GoPuff, which has recently downsized and only operates in the UK and France. This would essentially give Getir a monopoly on fast delivery of groceries on the continent.

While Deliveroo and UberEats also deliver groceries, they have a different business model and rely on third-party stores, while Getir has its own warehouses or dark storeswhich provides a “competitive advantage”, say the CEO of the company. The only other potential competitor is Zapp, but it only operates in London.

Despite its apparent success, Getir’s place at the top is anything but secure. The company is not there yet profitable in Europe, and meIn May 2022, it cut 14% of its global workforce, citing high inflation. But there is hope that as the competition eases, the remaining big players like Getir will be able to monetize on-demand fast grocery delivery, which is still not the case. remains relatively high.