NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — New York- and Israel-based Avo, the fastest growing, vertically integrated residential and office delivery platform in the U.S., announced today that it has raised over $80 million in funding.
Its most recent investment, a $45 million Series B round led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, will be used to expand operations rapidly across 10 major markets in the next 12 months. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins and JLL Spark also participated in the Series B round.
Avo’s mission is to deliver everything from groceries and alcohol to electronics and personal care items to millions of people daily.
The company’s customizable amenity platform enables residential and commercial customers to obtain everyday items, the same day, without any minimum order size or incurring any delivery fees of any kind. The platform also excludes a tipping fee, as Avo has a full-time salaried team.
Stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, Avo is currently adding a new major market every month – a dramatic increase in growth that has helped drive revenue 1000% over the past two years.
“At Avo, you can order as little as a single avocado, and that’s all you’ll pay for – and our explosive growth is proof that our model is resonating,” said Dekel Valtzer, CEO and Co-Founder of Avo. “Our belief is that people shouldn’t be surprised by last-minute fees at checkout. We’re thrilled that this new investment will allow us to deliver delight to so many more commercial and residential communities across the country.”
Similarly, Valtzer noted that employers and real estate partners are seeking flexible ways to engage and retain their employees and tenants in this Covid environment. Avo’s personal delivery perk, virtual pantry, and event and gifting offerings have proven to be successful solutions to delighting the company’s residential and commercial customers.
Lead investor Insight Partners recognized Avo’s product-market fit and was impressed by the company’s growth to date.
“Avo’s platform isn’t just challenging the conventional delivery service model,” said Jeff Horing, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Insight Partners. “It’s also providing customers with an innovative way to drive engagement and retention with their tenants and employees. We at Insight are thrilled to play a part in the company’s growth story and look forward to working together to help them become a category leader.”
Launched in 2017, Avo got its start delivering baby products to parents at nurseries in Tel Aviv. Since then, the company has expanded its offerings and reach across Israel and into the US, where it serves thousands of residential communities, corporations, hospitals and universities in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, and Houston.
The company’s existing customers include many of the country’s most prominent real estate developers and property managers, including Related, Extell, Greystar, FirstService Residential, Tishman Speyer, Cushman & Wakefield and JLL. Avo also partners with Fortune 1000 organizations such as Facebook, KPMG, Microsoft, Apple, AT&T, Booking.com and PwC, who use Avo to increase employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
Residential and commercial clients are seeing fantastic tenant engagement so far, including Mario Gaztambide, Senior Managing Director at LeFrak. “Avo’s amenity — same-day, no-fee grocery delivery — has been a huge hit with our residents,” said Gaztambide. “Our onsite staff also love it because Avo delivers more sustainably, just one drop per day, helping to relieve delivery congestion from our lobbies.”
“As global leaders in the real estate industry, we couldn’t be more excited to invest in Avo’s growth,” said Raj Singh, Managing Partner at JLL Spark. “Our goal at JLL Spark is to fuel innovation in the proptech space, and Avo’s amenity offering is exactly the type of innovation we look for.”
Commercial tenants of all sizes are benefiting from the flexibility, convenience, and value Avo is providing to their employees, especially when navigating the “return to office” transition.
“Avo is an extraordinary perk for our employees,” said Einat Baharav, Employee Experience lead at KPMG’s Tel Aviv office. “The combination of exceptional service, convenience, and speed make it a great asset for helping save employees time and cultivate a better work-life balance for our teams.”
When asked why they invested in Avo, Ilya Fushman, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, responded, “Our lives are busier than ever and we all need help in freeing up time to focus on what’s important. Avo is doing just that, by providing high quality on demand amenities and services from grocery and housekeeping to virtual events and corporate gifting, delivered to happy customers at home and at work. How we shop and interact with daily services is being fundamentally transformed by technology and this transformation has been rapidly accelerated over the past few years.”
About Avo
Avo is a customizable amenity platform designed to help employers and real estate operators engage and retain their tenants and employees. Avo has three primary business units: 1) White labeled same day delivery services 2) On-site and virtual end-to-end event programming and 3) Gifting and recognition services.
Avo reaches millions of consumers daily through hundreds of leading Fortune 1000 and Real Estate organizations.
Founded in Tel-Aviv in 2017, Avo graduated from the prestigious Y Combinator startup accelerator in 2018 and expanded into the US in 2019. Now based in NYC, Avo has since raised $84 million in funding from leading investors including Insight Partners, Kleiner Perkins, and JLL Spark.
For more information on Avo and partnership opportunities, please visit avonow.com or reach out directly to Jonathan Pelosi at jp@avonow.com.
About Insight Partners
Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.
