The company is legally bound to keep operating as a full competitor until regulators rule, and its investment commitments remain unchanged in the meantime, Dima Rosnovsky, who leads Glovo’s business across Africa, told Sable in an interview. He said the transaction would take considerably longer to complete than many expect.
What we know
- Uber agreed on July 16 to buy Delivery Hero, Glovo’s parent company, in a deal that values the Berlin-based group at about €13 billion ($14.8 billion), according to the companies.
- Glovo’s African businesses, including Kenya, would pass to Uber, while Delivery Hero sells its operations in 14 other markets, mostly in Europe, to SSW Partners.
- Uber already runs Uber Eats in Kenya, where Glovo operates in 12 towns.
- Glovo pledged in May to invest an additional Sh10 billion ($77 million) in Kenya by 2030, and Rosnovsky says that commitment stands while regulators review the deal.
The assurance comes as Uber prepares to take control of Glovo’s African businesses, including Kenya, where Uber already runs the rival Uber Eats service.
Delivery Hero agreed on July 16 to a €41.50-a-share cash offer from Uber that values the Berlin-based group at about €13 billion ($14.8 billion), according to the companies. The acceptance period ends Nov. 5, according to Uber’s offer document, and Delivery Hero has said it expects the deal to close in the second half of 2027, subject to merger control and other regulatory clearances. Delivery Hero will separately sell its businesses in 14 markets, including Glovo’s operations in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania and Moldova, to New York-based SSW Partners. Glovo’s African businesses are not part of that sale.
Glovo announced the Sh10 billion commitment in May, when it opened a Nairobi headquarters that the company said would serve as its African hub. It said at the time that orders in Kenya rose 40% in 2025. Glovo now operates in 12 Kenyan towns, and Rosnovsky oversees six markets on the continent.
Rosnovsky said the combination would not significantly change conditions for couriers, who he said have many other earning opportunities. “Even joining forces with Uber I don’t think we’re changing rider market much,” he said.
Every platform, whether Glovo, Uber or Bolt, has a commercial interest in keeping riders satisfied because without them there is no delivery, Rosnovsky said. “If you have even the biggest demand from customers, rider is very important.”
He said he expects more regulation of the sector as Kenya digitises its economy. “That’s why I feel that A, we have much more rules of the game, but B, a lot of enablement from all the sides,” he said, adding that it is “time to grow the pie and make everybody happy” rather than squeeze any part of the marketplace.
Rosnovsky said exits by delivery platforms across Africa come down to execution, opportunity cost and whether there is a path to profit. “If you have right playbook but you don’t have right team, you fail to execute,” he said, adding that Glovo has in some cases left cities or downsized parts of its business because it lacked the capacity to execute.
“What is better? To put one more euro in Kenya or to put another euro in another country?” he said. “Sometimes it’s all about opportunity cost.”
He said new entrants often discount heavily to build demand. In that model, “your burger costs 5 euros, it’s sold for 4,” he said, which makes for “easy business, but it’s extremely negative business.” “The question is, does company know how to make it profitable?”
Before entering a market, Glovo checks that it can reach restaurants, customers and couriers, and that what each is paid or charged can be made to balance, Rosnovsky said. He cited Luxembourg as a market where riders are hard to find. “Everybody is rich, nobody wants to deliver.”
Kenya meets those conditions, he said, pointing to its young population, rising urbanisation, a growing base of international and local restaurant chains, and a “digital native population who likes to order online.” Kenyans’ habit of eating out also helps, Rosnovsky said, contrasting it with Ukraine, where he said families cook at home even for big holidays. In Africa, “people go eat outside, and it is much easier to build habit for delivery.”
“What probably I had to unlearn is European defaults,” said Rosnovsky, who spent seven years with Glovo in Europe and Africa. “If you go to Barcelona, Google Maps are super reliable. Here, Google Maps are much less reliable and that impacts your operations.”
Most couriers in Africa do not have an email address, which Glovo’s European registration process had assumed, Rosnovsky said. “That’s why a registration flow must be changed.”
Payments required the largest rebuild. “Kenyan fintech is superior to European fintech,” he said. An operator arriving with only European experience does not expect to find “stellar fintech with huge penetration and great digital habits of the population,” he said.
Mobile wallets work on a different logic from card systems, Rosnovsky said. “You cannot use the very same APIs or very same processes or flows or standards to make integration. It takes more time to rebuild architecture.” He summed up the market this way: “It’s digital economy, but it’s not card economy. It’s like mobile wallet economy.” Bank transfers in Nigeria, he said, are “another type of logic.”
“AI it’s a great enhancer of what we do,” Rosnovsky said, describing Glovo’s business as “extremely operational.” Checks on menu photos, descriptions and product availability were once handled by interns. “Now, algorithm checks and flags where is the problem,” he said. Glovo’s engineering teams also use AI to ship features faster, according to Rosnovsky, who said the technology “helps us to allocate human attention where it’s really needed.”
What to watch
- November 5 is the deadline for Delivery Hero shareholders to accept Uber’s offer, according to Uber’s offer document.
- Merger control and other regulatory approvals are conditions for closing, Delivery Hero has said. Kenya is one of the markets where Uber Eats and Glovo compete directly.
- Rosnovsky did not set out commitments on courier earnings or protections under the combined ownership, leaving rider terms open until the deal closes.
- Glovo has said the Sh10 billion will fund expansion into more Kenyan towns, and progress against that pledge will show whether the commitment holds through the change of ownership.
- Delivery Hero expects the transaction to complete in the second half of 2027.