LogTech News 03/2026

Welcome back, fellow logistics enthusiasts!

Remember 2021? A new quick commerce player launching every week, valuations doubling overnight, and your inbox full of "we're disrupting grocery delivery" press releases? Last month kinda had that energy again, but in a now-grown-up version.

We're covering Uber's Getir acquisition, Flink's funding round, Wolt's reinvention as a full-on online supermarket, JD.com's newest European bet, and much more. And as always, you'll find the latest MotionTools release notes at the bottom.

Lots to cover, so let's get into it.

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📢 What the industry was up to

🌍 Uber closes Getir takeover and goes all-in on Europe

Back in November, we flagged that Uber was eyeing Getir for $1 billion. The deal is now done: $335M cash for Getir's food delivery business in Turkey, plus $100M for a 15% stake in its grocery and retail arm.

At the same time, Uber Eats is launching a full European offensive (entering Finland, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, and Norway over the course of 2026) with a stated goal of adding $1B in gross bookings over three years.

The Finland move is particularly sharp: Foodora exited the market after ten years, citing a strategic shift toward markets where it sees stronger potential for leadership. Uber Eats announced its Finnish launch just days later.

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🟢 Flink levels up: $100M, profitability, and a multi-platform push

Flink just raised $100M in fresh growth capital, led by Prosus and new investor Btomorrow Ventures. With 160 hubs, 22.5 million people in reach, and EBITDA profitability confirmed, the valuation sits at around $900M.

Strategically, Flink is also playing offense on all fronts: back on Wolt in 40+ cities after months of Lieferando exclusivity, and reportedly lending riders to Uber Eats for restaurant deliveries outside peak hours. Maximum platform visibility, full fleet utilization — a smart way to scale efficiently without proportional overhead.

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🛒 Wolt Market: from Quick Commerce to the weekly shop

Wolt Market got a full relaunch this month. New brand identity, expanded range, and a product-first browsing experience designed for the full weekly grocery shop (not just the late-night snack run). Its 13th German location opened in Düsseldorf.

The pivot from "quick commerce" to "online supermarket" is deliberate. Wolt is betting that the dark store model can grow up and that customers are ready to do their full shop through the app.

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📉 Delivery Hero: growing and unraveling

Delivery Hero posted stronger growth and improving profitability in 2025, pitching itself as the go-to "everyday app" across its markets.

But the pressure is building fast. Investors are pushing for a strategic overhaul, with some calling for a breakup of the company. Glovo faces a court order in Italy to regularise up to 40,000 riders (employment status/conditions), the stock is down more than 85% from its 2021 peak, and major shareholder Prosus is required to reduce its 27.4% stake to below 5% within 12 months of closing its Just Eat Takeaway acquisition, as part of EU antitrust conditions — a deadline likely falling around mid-2026.

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📦 Amazon: same-day everywhere, for everything

Amazon's same-day deliveries jumped nearly 70% year-over-year in 2025 — nearly 100 million U.S. customers used it, with groceries and everyday essentials making up half of all same- or next-day deliveries. Perishable grocery now reaches 2,300+ U.S. cities, rural same-day customers nearly doubled, and Amazon Now (30-minute delivery) is being tested in the U.S. and UK, while Prime members in India tripled their order frequency once they started using it.

The reach keeps widening: Amazon Pharmacy expanded same-day to 4,500 U.S. cities, and in the UK, Amazon deepened its grocery partnership with Iceland nationwide.

🌐 Costco goes same-day in Europe

Costco launched its first-ever European same-day delivery websites in France and Spain, covering Paris, Mulhouse, Bilbao, Madrid, Seville, and Zaragoza. The platform powering it: Instacart Storefront Pro, marking Instacart's first European project. Same in-store pricing, flat service fee.

Worth noting: we covered the Wolt/Costco partnership in Sweden back in October. Costco is clearly building out its European delivery footprint one partnership at a time.

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🇩🇪 Coolblue pushes deeper into Germany

Coolblue's German revenues grew 30% in 2025 to €307 million, fueled by three new stores and four new logistics centers that doubled its own delivery and installation coverage area.

The ambition is clear: Germany is set to become Coolblue's most important market by 2029. To get there, the Dutch electronics retailer is opening three more logistics centers this year — starting with Nuremberg this month, with Leipzig and Munich to follow later this year — plus at least three new stores in Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden.

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🤖 Autonomous delivery: two more on the road

Just Eat is trialing delivery robots in Sunderland, UK — the latest entrant in a space that's added Rewe, DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Starship over the past six months.

In Belgium, Colruyt is making a second attempt at autonomous delivery in Leuven, building on an earlier pilot with a new autonomous solution.

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📖 JD.com tried Europe twice and failed. Now they're betting billions on last-mile logistics.

This month, JD.com is launching Joybuy in six European markets: a full-category online retail platform with its own express delivery service, a network of more than 60 warehouses and depots, and a €2.2 billion retail takeover deal waiting to close. It's a bold move.

It's also their third attempt at cracking this market. The first two didn't work out, but the third time's a charm, as they say. And what they're betting on now says a lot about where European e-commerce logistics is heading.

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A decade of detours

JD.com's European ambitions have a rocky history. Joybuy 1.0 (2015–2021) was a cross-border marketplace with no local presence and no speed advantage. It couldn't compete with AliExpress and quietly faded out.

Then came Ochama (2022–2025): high-tech warehouses and robotic stores in the Netherlands that struggled to gain mainstream traction. The strategy pivoted repeatedly, key leadership left within a year, and spreading across 24 countries without real density made it hard to build a sustainable business.

Two different approaches, same outcome.

Leading with logistics infrastructure

JD.com wound down Ochama in 2025 and shifted its European strategy toward Joybuy, focused on six markets: the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. This time, a diversified logistics infrastructure plays a central part from the start.

On the supply side, Lekkerland (Rewe Group) started stocking the German marketplace, and DHL signed an MoU to help German brands sell through Joybuy into China and Europe.

In July 2025, JD.com launched a €2.2 billion takeover offer for Ceconomy, the parent company of MediaMarkt and Saturn. If completed, the deal would give JD.com access to over 1,000 stores across 11 European countries. Beyond the retail footprint, those stores could potentially serve as fulfillment hubs, pickup points, and service centers, giving JD.com physical logistics density that took competitors decades to build. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending final regulatory approvals.

Then in February 2026, JoyExpress went live: JD.com's own European delivery service with branded trucks, vans, and electric bicycles operating from more than 60 warehouses and depots. Same-day and next-day delivery in major cities, with teams based in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. And critically, JD Logistics plans to open JoyExpress to external business partners once parcel volumes grow, positioning it as a potential 3PL platform over time.

This isn't accidental. JD.com watched the European market shift toward fast, local delivery as the competitive baseline and built their third attempt around it.

Why this matters beyond JD.com

When a company with nearly $180 billion in trailing revenue and one of the world's most advanced supply chain operations decides to pour billions into European last-mile infrastructure, that's a directional signal worth paying attention to.

For the 3PL market specifically, JoyExpress becoming a delivery network for external partners would mean a well-funded new entrant competing for volume, but also a potential source of demand for local operators in regions JD.com can't cover alone. It's the same dynamic we keep seeing: platforms need local logistics partners to scale, and 3PLs need consistent demand to keep fleets busy.

If you're a merchant or logistics operator watching from the sidelines, the takeaway isn't only about JD.com specifically. It's that the companies shaping European e-commerce, from every direction, are converging on the same thesis: fast, local delivery infrastructure is the game now.

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📆 Events in March

Two cities, two events, one week: Mid-March has one fair and one summit in store that we'll be attending:

Internorga in Hamburg, 13.–17.03.
Leaders in Logistics Summit in Brussels, 17.–18.03.

Internorga is the leading trade fair for the foodservice and hospitality industry — exactly the kind of room where food and last-mile logistics shake hands. The Leaders in Logistics Summit brings together over 1,100 senior decision-makers from retailers, carriers, and 3PLs to dig into the future of e-commerce logistics.

Our Co-Founder, Marian-Maximilian, will be there and would be happy to connect. Reach out on LinkedIn if you'll be around!

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🦾 Shipping better technology for a world in Motion

Feature highlight: Return Flow

We're working on a standardized return flow – a dedicated process for when a driver needs to return an undeliverable order back to the original pickup location. This will create a consistent, platform-defined path for handling failed deliveries across all tenants.