The Twenty Minute VCOscar Pierre, Glovo CEO & Founder: Selling 30% for €100K |The McDonald's Deal That Saved Them |E1263
Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- February 26, 2025
- Duration
- 1h 9m
- Channel
- The Twenty Minute VC
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Oscar Pierre is the Founder and CEO @ Glovo, the food delivery site that will get you anything you want to your doorstep. This story is insane, the company was started by Oscar 11 years ago, in their pre-seed round they sold ⅓ of the company for €100K. The company was later saved by a deal they made with McDonald's. The company nearly ran out of money on several occasions, one time the funding round came from the CEO of Rakuten who Oscar met an FC Barcelona drinks. Today, they are a part of DeliveryHero who acquired them for $2.2BN, they have delivered 1BN orders and have almost 60M customers. ---------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode We Discuss: (00:00) Intro (00:49) Starting with Nothing (04:01) The First Funding Round: Selling ⅓ of the Company for €100K (06:03) Marketplace Dynamics and Expansion (12:52) The McDonald's Deal That Saved the Company (16:19) Running out of Money Three Times: Fundraising Hell (24:47) International Expansion: What Worked (28:43) Lessons from Failures: What Brazil Taught Us (31:22) How to Win in Emerging Markets (31:49) The Burn Rate (Burning $1M per day) and Investor Concerns (33:33) Scaling Challenges and Competitor Threats (34:28) The Biggest BS Elements of Company Values (36:13) How I Ruined the Culture of the Company (42:27) Layoffs and Talent Management (43:26) Biggest Lessons from M&A (46:21) The Future of Quick Commerce (47:31) Acquisition by Delivery Hero (51:23) Post-Acquisition Reflections (58:40) The CEO on Trial and Facing Prison (01:03:28) Quick-Fire Round ---------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Oscar Pierre on X: https://twitter.com/oscarpierremi Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #oscarpierre #glovo #CEO #venturecapital #founder #startup #fooddelivery #ubereats #deliveryhero #justeat #deliveroo
SPEAKERS
Oscar Pierre
guestHarry Stebbings
host
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Oscar Pierre and Harry Stebbings, Oscar Pierre, Glovo CEO & Founder: Selling 30% for €100K |The McDonald's Deal That Saved Them |E1263 explores from €100K Seed to €2.3B Exit: Glovo’s Relentless Rise The conversation traces Glovo founder and CEO Oscar Pierre’s journey from a naive 22‑year‑old with a €10K outsourced MVP to building a multi‑billion‑euro delivery platform acquired by Delivery Hero. He explains how an early, existential McDonald’s partnership and brutal market expansion battles against Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Rappi and others shaped Glovo’s strategy, unit economics, and culture. Oscar dives into marketplace dynamics, geographic expansion, fundraising struggles with European VCs, painful shutdowns and layoffs, and the eventual decision to sell instead of pursuing another risky mega‑round or IPO. He closes with lessons on culture, work ethic, regulation in Europe, and why he still sees Glovo as “Amazon 20 years ago” with huge upside in multi‑category commerce and advertising.
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