Carrefour launches fund to invest in digital retail startups

Carrefour launches fund to invest in digital retail startups © Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A seagul flies over the logo of Carrefour at a Carrefour Hypermarket store in Nice, France, February 17, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

PARIS (Reuters) – Carrefour (PA:CARR), Europe’s largest food retailer, is joining forces with venture capital firm Daphni to invest in digital retail startups as part of a global plan to step up e-commerce expansion over the next four years, it said on Monday.

Their new venture capital fund, Dastore, will initially invest 80 million euros ($88 million) by taking minority stakes in high-potential emerging startups in France and globally to allow Carrefour “to stay close to innovations and emerging technologies”, the statement said.

Last November Carrefour pledged to spend 3 billion euros between 2022 and 2026 to step up digital expansion, one of the pillars of the group’s strategy to stay ahead of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) on grocery deliveries and accelerate its continuing turnaround.

($1 = 0.9071 euros)

Source: Reuters