Online meal firm HelloFresh prepares for listing this year: sources

By Arno Schuetze and Alexander Hübner FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Online meal preparation firm HelloFresh is readying a stock market listing this year as it seeks to capitalize on buoyant equities markets and investor appetite for the Internet food market, according to three people familiar with the matter. Majority owner Rocket Internet and co-investors have mandated Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to organize the listing, the sources said.

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Rocket Internet to close grocery delivery service in Germany

German start-up investor Rocket Internet is closing down its grocery delivery service Shopwings in Germany due to a lack of cooperation from retailers and regulatory hurdles. A Rocket Internet spokesman said the business that only launched last year in Berlin and Munich would focus instead on expanding in Australia as well as in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Europe's largest Internet company prides itself on needing only 100 days to go from concept to launch of a new firm, establishing dozens of start-ups from online fashion to home furnishings and food delivery since it was founded in 2007.

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Rocket Internet backs rental start-up looking to replace realtors

By Eric Auchard LONDON (Reuters) – German ecommerce investor Rocket Internet is backing online apartment rental firm Nestpick as the start-up expands into four European countries, aiming to connect landlords with tenants and put real estate agents out of a job. Nestpick said on Tuesday it was expanding into 14 cities in Britain, France, Italy and Spain, seeking to do for medium-term property rentals what AirBnB has done to transform the market for short-stay rentals for holiday and business travelers

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