The Samokat express food delivery service, which is part of a joint venture between Sber and Mail.ru Group, will enter the US market within a few months, co-founder and co-owner of the service Vyacheslav Bocharov told Vedomosti on the sidelines of SPIEF-2021. According to him, at the first stage, the service will be launched in New York under the Bike brand, and a separate structure will be created to operate in the United States.
The first deputy chairman of the board of Sber, Lev Khasis, confirmed to Vedomosti the entry of the service to the US market. “It really is. We support this initiative in every possible way, like Samokat. This will be a new company, which will be specially created for this and the same founders as “Samokat”. Together with Mail.ru Group, we, as shareholders, support this initiative in every possible way, ”Khasis said.
Bocharov did not disclose further plans for expansion. According to him, the main principle of work will remain the delivery of goods in 15 minutes. “We are now taking the first step, launching, and see how the service will be activated in another country. We are testing our hypotheses, ”Bocharov noted.
Earlier, The Bell reported about the plans to enter the US market with reference to sources.
Samokat delivers groceries, cosmetics and household goods and operates in 15 cities. The number of orders by the end of 2020 increased by times to 18 million, the company reported.
The Samokat brand was founded in 2018 by former top managers of Russian Post and Magnit Vyacheslav Bocharov and Rodion Shishkov. In 2020, 75.6% of the company was purchased by the O2O holding joint venture between Sberbank and Mail.ru Group.
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