Oda and Mathem continue to grow differently, but for how long?
The two Kinnevik-funded Nordic online grocery pure players continue to have different growth trajectories. In Q1/2023, Oda grew by 20% Year-On-Year, accelerated by the growth of the Finnish market and the launch in Germany. At the same time, Mathem's revenues kept declining by 9,2%.
However, the Q2/2023 growth numbers may look very different for these two companies. In the second quarter of the year, Sweden's online grocery home delivery market grew for the first time in more than 1,5 years. This will help Mathem to improve its revenue numbers and maybe even return to growth.
On the other hand, Oda has famously retreated from Finland and Germany. This will impact the future growth of the company. The retreat from both markets seemed to be driven by the extremely high cash burn rate and subsequent pressure from the main investors.
“While the decision to close markets such as in the case of Oda will have negative implications on short term growth, we support our companies in pruning their operations and focusing on efficiency in the current market conditions.”
Fleeting valuations
The retreat from Finland was somewhat expected, but Germany was surprised. These decisions do cut down the growth expectations for Oda, and thus the valuation of the company has been slashed dramatically to 1,6 billion SEK. In only two years, the valuation has been slashed by -80% from the high of 7,6 billion SEK.
With the most recent revaluation, Oda is now valued at the same level as Mathem. In Q2/2022, Oda’s Fair Value was 390% higher than Mathem’s. Both companies operate in only one market and are looking to reach profitability before bigger expansion.
It will be interesting to see how these two Nordic online grocery pioneers navigate profitable growth in these challenging times.
