Sydney based Instant grocery delivery startup Voly has slashed the number of staff in its head office, jettisoned its promise of 15 minute deliveries and closed half its warehouse sites as similar companies abroad struggle, prompting questions about the viability of their business model.
The company was one of three local grocery delivery startups founded last year hoping to upend the $100 billion annual supermarket sector by having the riders it employed swiftly bring items from a network of mini warehouses in inner-city suburbs to customers at retail prices.
But the technology sector has been battered by rising interest rates and inflation, which have caused share prices in global markets to plummet, startup investors to become more cautious and founders to scale back expenditure to conserve cash.
