- Ultrafast delivery startup Gorillas, based in Germany, recently launched in the US.
- The startup named Deena Fox, a former Amazon HR exec, as its first global chief people officer.
- Since launching last year, Gorillas has hired more than 10,000 employees.
German delivery startup Gorillas, which entered the US market in May, announced the hire of its first global chief people officer on Wednesday.
Deena Fox, a former human resources executive at Amazon, Hugo Boss, and Jet, started this month in the new C-Suite position. She comes to Gorillas amid a hiring spree to support its rapid growth in Europe and the US. Since launching last year, the company has hired more than 10,000 workers including positions in its retail warehouses and bike courier network.
Fox will be responsible for all aspects of Gorillas’ company culture and global people strategy, the ultrafast-delivery company said.
“Nothing is more important than investing in our people,” CEO Kağan Sümer said in a statement. “I have great confidence in Deena’s ability to design and execute a global people strategy that will have a strong and immediate impact on our global workforce, while positioning us well for the many stages of growth still ahead.”
Fox reports directly to Sümer. She told Insider in an email that she’s the only “C-suite likely to be hired in the US.”
“Although I am based here in NYC, my role is leading the global people team,” she said. “Kagan’s vision is to build a truly Global company so while we don’t have plans to put other C-Suite roles here, we’re not excluding the possibility.”
According to LinkedIn job postings, Gorillas is looking for a range of positions based in New York including a store operations supervisor, a VP of people, and rider lead. In recent months, two top executives have exited the company.
The ultrafast-delivery operator launched its 10-minute delivery service in late May in a few Brooklyn neighborhoods. It has since expanded to more Brooklyn enclaves, as well as Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Queens’ Long Island City.
Unlike Gopuff, Instacart, DoorDash, and Uber, Gorillas — which has raised $334 million in VC funding — does not rely on gig workers to fulfill deliveries. Instead, it employs a fleet of bike couriers who deliver goods from strategically located dark warehouses that carry a selection of 2,000 to 2,500 items.
Sümer told Insider in a previous interview that Gorillas wants to change the way US consumers shop for groceries. Specifically, he believes consumers will become less reliant on bulk shopping when they realize how easy it is to get grocery essentials on-demand.
“So if this model is executed the right way, it is going to be transformative in a big way,” he told Insider.
Groceries are carried by a bicyclist wearing a temperature-controlled backpack that can carry a handful of items such as fresh produce, ice cream, and foods from local restaurants. Delivery couriers are full-time employees, not gig workers like Instacart shoppers or DoorDash drivers.
Gorillas, which charges a flat $1.80 delivery fee on all orders, plans to expand delivery operations to other US cities on the East and West coasts, as well as the Midwest, by the end of the summer.
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Originally Appeared Here