Gopuff hit $15B in 2021, then closed 76 warehouses and cut 10% of staff

Gopuff was founded in 2013 in Philadelphia by Drexel University students Yakir Gola and Rafael Ilishayev, promising snacks and essentials delivered in 15 to 30 minutes from its own micro-fulfillment warehouses. The boom peaked in July 2021, when it raised $1 billion at a $15 billion valuation — $3.5 billion raised in total, covering more than 850 cities across 41 states with more than 500 warehouses.

The market shifted fast. In March 2022 Gopuff laid off 3% of its workforce, more than 400 people. On July 12, 2022 it cut 10% of staff — at least 10,000 people had worked there — and closed 76 warehouses, about 12% of its footprint, saving roughly $100 million and projecting positive free cash flow by 2024.

The co-founders' email was candid about the turn: "For the last 18 months, Gopuff had operated in a market that incentivized growth, scale, testing, and investment, but the market has shifted quickly." The company said it owed it to investors and customers to accelerate its timeline to profitability.

The cuts did not stop. In October 2022 a third round removed about 250 customer-service workers, the entire driver-support team was disbanded and outsourced to the Philippines, and the IPO that had been planned for 2022 stayed shelved.