Gorillas
Gorillas reached a valuation of over $1 billion in 2021, less than a year after launch. Then it collapsed. The Gorillas story is the most cited European case study on unit economics that do not work.
The model was clear: 10-minute grocery delivery from a dark store. The problem was equally clear but hidden by growth: contribution margin per order was negative. Every delivery cost more than it generated in net revenue.
Typical numbers from that period (never officially disclosed, but reconstructed by analysts): an average order of €25-30, with picking, packaging and delivery costs of €8-12, a basket margin of 15-20%, and an amortised customer acquisition cost that made payback period impossible to achieve at their volumes.
The mistake was not the idea — it was the sequence. Gorillas scaled before proving that unit economics could close with volume, geographic density and optimised product mix. The venture capital available in 2020-2021 allowed this problem to be ignored for almost two years.
When markets tightened in 2022, funding stopped and with it the artificial oxygen hiding operational losses. Gorillas was acquired by Getir in 2022.
Negative unit economics do not automatically become positive with scale. Scale amplifies both losses and profits. Before scaling, prove that unit economics close in at least one market, at a specific density.