Carrefour launches fund to invest in digital retail startups

PARIS (Reuters) - Carrefour, Europe's largest food retailer, is joining forces with venture capital firm Daphni to invest in digital retail startups as part of a global plan to step up e-commerce expansion over the next four years, it said on Monday.

Their new venture capital fund, Dastore, will initially invest 80 million euros ($88 million) by taking minority stakes in high-potential emerging startups in France and globally to allow Carrefour "to stay close to innovations and emerging technologies", the statement said.

Last November Carrefour pledged to spend 3 billion euros between 2022 and 2026 to step up digital expansion, one of the pillars of the group's strategy to stay ahead of Amazon on grocery deliveries and accelerate its continuing turnaround.

($1 = 0.9071 euros)

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by David Goodman)