How Poland’s fyrtel.market democratizes e-grocery. Interview with startup’s co-founder

The e-commerce startup fyrtel.market develops a marketplace for easy online shopping from local retailers. The platform has already connected over 200 local stores in three Polish cities and doesn’t plan to stop. Last month, the startup raised €850,000 for further scaling in Poland and expanding abroad. Paweł Głogowski, co-founder of fyrtel.market, told AIN.Capital about how the startup gets ahead in democratizing e-grocery in Poland and its plans of entering the German market.

What is the idea behind fyrtel.market? How did you come up with it?

At fyrtel.market, we believe in local businesses. They provide high-quality products and are an integral part of our city landscapes. We aim to enable these businesses and help them thrive.

Our goal is for fyrtel.market to be the go-to partner for independent food entrepreneurs. If someone is running or thinking of opening an independent grocery store, artisanal bakery, or deli — they should think of fyrtel.market as a natural step in setting up their business.

We are focused on driving demand for our partners, but the potential for collaboration goes far beyond that. We want to digitize local retailers. We aim to be the leading partner for local businesses in Europe.

What problems does the startup solve?

The challenge independent businesses have is that they are competing against companies that have a scale and budget advantage. We are leveling the playing field. We want to democratize e-grocery. From the demand side, our customers appreciate local shops and the products they offer. However, in our busy day-to-day lives, we struggle to find time to visit our favorite neighborhood stores. So, we settle for less. In many cases, chain stores end up getting our daily business because of longer opening hours, number of locations, a wide range of products in one place and deliveries.

fyrtel.market is giving people convenient access to the products they love. From the people and places they know. In an environmentally friendly way. Our service allows customers to purchase from multiple shops in one basket and have it all delivered. You don’t have to wait for the weekend to buy products you can feel good about. We’ll deliver them to your doorstep. 

Please, tell us a bit more about the marketplace. How does it work? How many stores has it already connected? How many orders does it process per month? What is the average check size?

Our logistical model is built specifically for urban and suburban areas, the type of business we interact with, and the type of product we deliver. From the start, we have put an emphasis on courier efficiency and environmentally friendly deliveries.

So far, we have over 200 local stores in three cities: Poznań, Wrocław & Warsaw. The number is growing dynamically. We process around 6,000-7,000 orders per month, and the average order is around 70-80 zł.

Who are your target markets and customers? 

We target all cities with over 500,000 inhabitants, mostly people who care about quality, sustainability, and local vibe.

What is the business model of fyrtel.market? How do you monetize the service? 

We charge a commission from every order + a delivery fee from the customer. 

fyrtel.market is planning to spend the proceeds on further scaling in Poland and abroad. What will be the next cities and why?

Our next city will be Berlin. We see a huge potential for our model there, as the city is filled with great local stores and clients are already used to delivering services. We truly believe that this will open new chances for further growth.