Dutch online grocer Picnic has secured €430 million in fresh capital from its existing backers, including German supermarket group Edeka, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, Dutch investor Hoyberg, and NPM Capital. The company will channel most of the funding into deepening its footprint in Germany, which it describes as its most important growth market and one where it already claims market leadership. The round is being formally presented at the 120th anniversary event of the German Dutch Chamber of Commerce in The Hague, attended by senior Dutch and German economic officials.
Funding to accelerate German expansion
Picnic plans to deploy the bulk of the new capital to expand into additional German regions and cities, underpinned by significant investment in distribution centers and related infrastructure. Management argues that Germany’s scale, with around five times the population of the Netherlands and nearly nine times its land area, demands a step change in logistics capacity. To reach a meaningful share of German households, the company says it must replicate and eventually surpass the infrastructure it has built in its home market.
Building a unified European network
While Germany is the primary focus, Picnic will also use part of the funding to move into additional, as yet undisclosed, European markets. The company frames this expansion as part of a broader strategy to create a unified European online grocery network operating on a single technology and logistics stack. Co founder Michiel Muller says the close collaboration between software and operations teams in the Netherlands and Germany showcases the strength of cross border cooperation in building a European market leader in online grocery.
Technology driven distribution infrastructure
Picnic’s logistics network has been shaped by heavy investment in automation and software since its launch. The company operates seven distribution centers serving around two million customers across 200 cities in the Netherlands, Germany, and France, all powered by its in house route optimization technology. Three years ago, Picnic opened a robotic distribution center in Utrecht, and its newer facility in Oberhausen is now piloting robopicking systems that automatically pick and place groceries into customer crates.
The Oberhausen site currently handles more than 15,000 different products, each with distinct handling requirements that create a complex operating environment for robots. Muller notes that sensitive items, such as a carton of eggs, must be managed very differently from heavier or more robust products like bottles of olive oil. Visual AI is used to mimic human vision, allowing the system to recognize items, understand how they should be handled, and execute the appropriate movements in real time.
Route based model and customer proposition
Picnic was founded in 2015 by Muller, Frederik Nieuwenhuys, Joris Beckers, and Bas Verheijen, following three years of development work before launch. A core team of 30 people designed a route based delivery model that removes unnecessary steps from the supply chain, sending groceries directly from local hubs to customers. Shoppers select a preferred delivery route that fits their schedule and receive a precise time slot through Picnic’s grocery radar feature, which helps keep operating costs low and supports the company’s free delivery promise.
The new €430 million round follows a €600 million Series D in 2022 and a further €355 million raised last year, both of which financed expansion in France and Germany. Picnic says it is already operationally profitable in the Netherlands, and views the latest investment as the catalyst to scale its German business toward similar maturity while opening the door to new European markets. With fresh capital, advanced robotic infrastructure, and a proven route based delivery model, the company is positioning itself to push online grocery adoption further across Germany and solidify its role as a pan European player.