Milkrun raised $86 million in 2021 and 2022 to build a network of riders delivering supermarket items from tiny suburban warehouses.
At the time, interest rates were near zero, fuelling a venture capital mentality that prized revenue growth ahead of profitability. The environment suited companies such as Milkrun, which required hefty funding to directly employ riders, lease warehouses in inner-city locations, and achieve sufficient scale to negotiate with wholesalers and producers for the goods it sold.
Competitors such as Woolworths’ Metro60 service used Uber workers with no right to a minimum wage and tapped into the grocery chain’s supply network.
Woolworths deal
Milkrun failed when its investors declined to tip more cash into the business, which was rapidly depleting its reserves and losing money on each order, according to leaked investment documents from the time.
Woolworths…
