In a year that should have cemented its role as a pillar of Morocco’s growing digital economy, Spanish delivery giant Glovo is instead battling on two fronts: an increasingly vocal courier workforce, and a formal investigation by Morocco’s Competition Council. The double-edged crisis — sparked by claims of poor pay, political insensitivity, and alleged monopolistic practices — has exposed the fragility of Glovo’s North African playbook just as it tries to brand itself as a builder of the continent’s tech future.
On the Ground: Couriers Demand Dignity
On Monday, July 21, dozens of Glovo delivery drivers staged a protest in front of the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT) headquarters in Casablanca. Their demands were clear: fairer pay, better working conditions, and respect.
Couriers say Glovo pays them a base rate of 6 dirhams (about €0.55) per delivery — an amount they argue fails to cover basic expenses like fuel, data, maintenance, and insurance. Many also raised concerns about “stacked orders” — multiple deliveries batched into one ride — which they say extend distances without proportionate pay. Several couriers complained of account suspensions they describe as “arbitrary,” often delivered without warning or recourse.
Yet perhaps the most inflammatory grievance was not financial but symbolic. Protesters allege that the Glovo app recently displayed a map of Morocco without its southern regions, an omission that in the Moroccan political context amounts to a challenge to national sovereignty. Glovo swiftly issued a statement attributing the map to a “technical anomaly” introduced by an external update, and reaffirmed its “full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco.”
Still, the damage was done. What began as a protest over wages morphed into a broader crisis about respect, sovereignty, and power imbalances — sparking headlines that threatened to puncture Glovo’s carefully cultivated image as a benevolent force in the Moroccan startup scene.
The Competition Council Strikes
As tensions on the streets simmered, a parallel drama was unfolding in Morocco’s regulatory corridors.
In May 2025, the Moroccan Competition Council issued a formal grievance notification to GlovoApp Morocco, alleging the platform had abused its market dominance and engaged in unfair commercial practices. These include enforcing exclusivity clauses on restaurant partners and setting artificially low prices that, regulators argue, could amount to predatory pricing.
Though the Council’s statement did not name the company explicitly, Glovo confirmed it was the subject of the probe — a months-long investigation that began with a rare dawn raid on Glovo’s Casablanca offices in late 2024. That raid, conducted by the National Judicial Police with the greenlight of the Public Prosecutor, marked the first time such aggressive enforcement had been deployed against a tech firm in Morocco.
In a move to preempt harsher penalties, Glovo has now, reportedly, reached a settlement with the Council, agreeing to drop exclusivity clauses from its contracts with restaurants and to pay a reduced fine — reportedly in the tens of millions of dirhams. The agreement allows Glovo to avoid a formal admission of guilt while committing to specific behavioral changes. A rapporteur from the Council will now oversee the implementation of these reforms.
A Star Startup Under Fire
The backlash could not come at a worse time for Glovo. Owned by Germany’s Delivery Hero, the company has invested more than 200 million dirhams (€18.5m) in Morocco since 2018 and now operates in 38 cities. Through its “Startup Lab,” Glovo has portrayed itself as an ecosystem builder, mentoring homegrown startups like fintech Paylik and delivery startup VelyVelo in collaboration with 212 Founders and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
However, that narrative is increasingly being challenged by Moroccan founders and restaurateurs who say Glovo’s dominant market position gives it too much control.
“It’s take-it-or-leave-it,” said one Casablanca-based restaurant owner who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. “If Glovo brings 80% of your online orders, can you really negotiate commissions or reject their terms?”
For competitors like Kooul, a Moroccan startup under the umbrella of ORA Technologies, the issue is more than just commercial — it’s existential. Kooul filed the original antitrust complaint, arguing that Glovo was leveraging its scale to crowd out local platforms. ORA, which recently raised $7.8 million in a Series A round, aims to build a Moroccan-owned alternative to foreign superapps through products like ORA Cash, a multilingual digital wallet serving the underbanked.