Delivery Hero’s Glovo launches €5 million Impact Fund. Of sorts.

Barcelona-based Glovo has announced the launch of its own Impact Fund, according to the company the first-of-its-kind in the delivery industry. Funding for the fund is expected to come from “a small amount of Glovo’s earnings from every order will be dedicated to boosting Impact and Sustainability projects.”

Unlike a typical fund as we might well be accustomed, Glovo’s variant is expected to support local communities, climate action initiatives, the digitalisation of small local businesses, close the gender gap in tech, and provide upskilling programmes for couriers. This includes funds that have been allocated to these projects since mid-2021.

Specifically, the fund will target:

• Reducing hunger: Covering the delivery costs for NGOs to access Glovo’s last-mile logistics for free and distributing items to vulnerable families. 
• Climate action: The Impact Fund will accelerate the reduction of CO2 emissions across the company’s value chain by providing the resources to further electrify our fleet, and provide sustainable packaging versus non-recyclable options via the Glovo Store to partners in nine countries.
• Digitising small local businesses: Providing small and medium-sized restaurants and retailers with the right tools and training to help them digitise and grow their business online through our Glovo Local program.
• Women in tech: The company is financing boot camps for young women eager to start a tech career. In 2022, 230 women were trained in Spain in data analytics and web development in a 6-month program scholarship by KeepCoding. This year a new programme will be launched for 250 girls in Poland to join coding classes, and another 65 young women are planned to join Tech Bootcamps in Ghana, Spain, and Poland.
• Education programmes for couriers: Providing an online and in-person learning programme for couriers, to help them in their professional development and gain the skills they need to get access to more qualified jobs. 
• Aid to Ukraine: In 2023, the Impact Fund will be investing €195,000 to help the people of Ukraine and to support local NGOs helping communities impacted by the war. 

Sébastien Pellion, Head of Impact and Sustainability at Glovo comments, “It’s critical that businesses step up to empower those in need and protect the planet. Unique to the industry, the Impact Fund will provide vital financing to address socio-environmental challenges such as supporting local communities, the digitalisation of small and medium-sized businesses, climate action initiatives, reduction of the gender gap in tech and upskilling for couriers globally. Glovo customers will support initiatives that create positive change for communities and the environment with every order.”

In late January of this year, Glovo shed 6.5 percent of its workforce with CEO Óscar Pierre saying all other avenues had been exhausted, following a nine-month cost-cutting drive aimed at improving its unit economics.