Milkrun, an instant grocery delivery service startup based in Sydney, has reportedly raised $75 million in funding to expand nationwide, and also get ahead of its competitors as the Australian instant delivery race heats up.

Dany Milham, CEO and founder of Milkrun, stated that the funding will accelerate the firm’s goal of expanding the business across greater Sydney along with other cities in Australia.

Milham believes that raising the said amount of funds from high-profile investors within the last months indicates Milkrun’s remarkable market leadership and growth in the instant delivery sector.

Milham, who formerly co-founded Koala, a direct-to-consumer mattress firm, started Milkrun as a start-up in September 2021 with the goal of providing 10-minute instant delivery of grocery items and fresh vegetables at retail pricing instead of overcharged delivery fees.

Unlike existing delivery platforms such as Deliveroo and UberEats, Milkrun presently absorbs the extra labor costs associated with delivery.

The Series A fundraising round, led by Tiger Global Management alongside Airtree, Grok, and Skip, comes just six months after the business raised $11 million in its Seed round in June 2021.

Milkrun is among a slew of local businesses emulating startups that have exploded in popularity around the world thanks to a hyperlocal delivery strategy that relies on riders recruited as workers instead of independent contractors.

Send, which runs both in Melbourne and Sydney, as well as Voly, which secured $18 million in venture capital from Sequoia's Indian subsidiary last year to expand from its existing Sydney base, are two of the most significant companies operating locally.

Voly now operates a network of 42 dispatch centers spanning Sydney's inner-city suburbs, whereas Milkrun serves 35 suburbs.

As of mid-December 2021, the startup listed 26 suburbs, indicating its explosive growth.

Milkrun operates through a web of local warehouses, referred to as dark stores, that hold roughly 1,500 to 2,000 grocery products and distributes groceries to consumers in 10 minutes or less, following in the footsteps of the emerging 'instant delivery' model.

The model also stands to greatly benefit companies as Australia, like the UK and the US, tightens rules controlling the gig economy, focusing on defending the rights of delivery employees.

Source credit: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/instant-delivery-service-milkrun-75-million-raise-expansion