The co-founders of Turkish food delivery start-up Getir have initiated legal proceedings against Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company in London’s High Court.
According to a Financial Times (FT) report, Getir co-founders Nazim Salur and Serkan Borançılı sued Mubadala for at least $700m, alleging that the Gulf sovereign wealth fund did not transfer assets promised in a 2024 restructuring, including Getir Finance.
In the lawsuit, the claimants said that they have “suffered significant loss” as a result of the alleged failure to hand over the assets.
Brought on grounds of alleged breach of contract and conspiracy, the case comes shortly after Mubadala announced the sale of Getir’s Turkish food delivery operations to Uber in a $335m transaction.
Founded in 2015, Getir was among the early players in the food and grocery delivery sector, a segment that expanded sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company reached a valuation of $12bn in 2022.
However, the startup’s position weakened as rising interest rates and a downturn in technology stocks curbed investor interest in loss-making growth companies.
In June 2024, Getir signed a restructuring agreement with Mubadala.
Under that plan, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund would lead a $250m cash injection and take majority control of Getir’s Turkish grocery business.
The remaining assets were to be placed into a separate company in which Salur and Borançılı were to hold a controlling stake.
In their lawsuit, the co-founders say that, in practice, only the FreshDirect grocery service and the online marketplace n11 were transferred to them. They describe these as the least profitable parts of the group.
They also claim they are still owed other assets, including Getir Finance, which they say was valued at $510m last year.
“The assets which were supposed to have been hived out and transferred to their control were never so transferred (save for the two most unprofitable and liability-laden entities),” the lawyers for Getir co-founders told FT.
Mubadala has not yet filed its defence.
