Grocery delivery platform Milkrun has announced it is shutting down and making roughly 400 staff across Sydney and Melbourne redundant.
Dany Milham, Founder of Milkrun, said in an email to staff that the business will cease trading this Friday due to “worsening economic conditions”.
“Since we announced our structural changes in February, economic and capital market conditions have continued to deteriorate, and while the business has continued to perform well, we feel strongly that this is the right decision in the current environment,” Milham said in an email seen by the Australian Financial Review.
Milham said that the closure of the company while they still have a “sufficient cash balance” will ensure suppliers and the 400 employees across Sydney and Melbourne who are to be made redundant will be paid out in full.
“We’ve always been committed to doing things the right way, and winding down the business while we still have a sufficient cash balance enables us to ensure our people and suppliers are paid in full.”
Founded in 2021 by Milham, who last year came it at number 40 on AFR’s Young Rich List with an estimated net worth of $153 million, Milkrun has received a total of $86 million in seed funding over two capital raises, including $75 million in January 2022, in an attempt to take on the $122 billion Australian grocery market.
The demise of Milkrun comes hot on the heels of the closure of competitors such as Voly, Send, and meal delivery service Deliveroo, whose parent company stated it could not reach a sustainable and profitable scale in Australia.
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