Why bringing you emergency toothpaste could be big business

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic. This time ’round we took a look into the world of on-demand delivery in Europe, with a special focus on the so-called “instant” grocery sector and delivered convenience items. To help Natasha and Danny and Alex get through the subject, we lassoed TechCrunch alum and present-day VP at Zapp, a company in the sector under discussion, Steve O’Hear to chat with us. We spent time chatting through the following:

• Recent news from the sector, including that Turkey’s Getir has just raised a bucket of new capital, and that Weezy is looking to exit; the latter item wound up being important as we got around to discussing consolidation in the space.
• Steve gave us an overview of Zapp, and how its approach to infra could help its economics.
• We chatted about GoPuff and its economic fortunes, which in fundraising terms are solid, even if questions regarding future profitability are still in play.
• And regarding the ever-present pandemic question, Steve was bullish on consumer behavior staying where it is if — when? — the COVID-19 pandemic eventually leaves us.

We are back on Friday! Chat then!