In the Dutch city of Almelo, a distribution warehouse belonging to an online supermarket sponsored by Bill Gates caught fire on Sunday night.

The fire damaged the Picnic facility, but the local fire department arrived immediately, according to the local daily Tubantia.

The fire department is examining the event.

According to Tubantia, while the cause of the incident is still under investigation, a short circuit in one of the electric delivery cars parked at the plant is suspected.

The fire grew rapidly, with flames reaching heights of several meters.

Thankfully, officials were able to prevent it from spreading and hitting a nearby company.

Tubantia stated that officials mobilized a team of forty firemen and resources from around the region to combat the blaze.

According to Tubantia, there were no evidence of dangerous chemicals at the location when the fire department conducted measurements.

According to the outlet, authorities stated that no injuries were recorded.

Picnic was founded in 2015 and quickly became a breakthrough service that disrupted the grocery sector by allowing customers to get groceries and other supermarket items online from a single location.

Traditional delivery formats adhere to the “taxi-model,” in which a user purchases an item and receives it directly.

More on this story via The Western Journal:

On the other hand, Picnic uses the “bus-model” or the milkman model, where the delivery truck drives along regular routes and delivers to customers along the way.

As of 2018, just three years from its founding, Picnic controlled around 10 percent of the Dutch online market share, according to reporting from Reuters.

In 2020, investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, put around $605 million into the company to fund its global expansion, DutchNews reported. CONTINUE READING…