Six years after entering the Cypriot market, Wolt has firmly established itself as a key player in the country’s business landscape, becoming an integral part of consumers’ everyday lives, while making a meaningful contribution to the local economy.
Through its operations across the government-controlled areas of Cyprus, Wolt acts as a value multiplier for thousands of local businesses. Specifically, the company has significantly expanded its ecosystem by introducing new services to the platform, meeting an ever-growing range of consumers’ everyday needs. Today, Wolt has evolved into a “one-stop marketplace at consumers’ fingertips”.
During his visit to Cyprus, where he represented the company at the “Shaping the Next Digital Frontier” conference, Wolt’s Head of Global Public Policy, Samuel Laurinkari, spoke to Cyprus Business News about the company’s next steps in the Cypriot market, the role of artificial intelligence in digital platforms, and the challenges shaping the future of work and innovation across the digital platform sector.
In recent years, Wolt has established a strong presence in the Cypriot market. How would you assess the market overall?
The Cypriot market has exceeded our expectations. Despite its relatively small size, it is home to a highly dynamic business community and consumers who are quick to embrace new technologies and digital services.
Since launching in Cyprus in 2020, Wolt has become an integral part of consumers’ everyday lives. Today, we partner with more than 4,500 businesses and 3,500 courier partners, fulfilling tens of thousands of orders across all cities in the Republic of Cyprus on a daily basis.
Beyond these numbers, what excites us most is the opportunity to create value for the local economy. We help businesses reach new customers, grow digitally, and expand their sales through our platform, while offering flexible earning opportunities to courier partners and making everyday life easier for consumers.
We also believe there is still significant room for growth. As consumers increasingly turn to digital services and businesses continue investing in omnichannel commerce, Wolt is well positioned to support the continued digital transformation of local commerce in Cyprus.
Do you see further growth opportunities for Wolt in Cyprus, both through its delivery platform and Wolt Market?
Today, Wolt is much more than just a food delivery platform. We are evolving into a local commerce platform where consumers can meet more and more of their everyday needs through a single app. From groceries and pharmacies to retail, beauty products and pet supplies, we are gradually building what we describe as a “a digital shopping mall at consumers’ pockets”.
Wolt Market is a key part of this venture. With its refreshed brand identity and expanding network of local suppliers and businesses, it is evolving into a one-stop destination for everyday shopping, with a strong focus on quality, freshness and supporting local production. At the same time, we continue to invest in tools that create greater value for our partner businesses. Services such as Wolt Capital, Wolt Drive, Wolt Ads, Wolt for Work, and Wolt Catering help businesses grow and reach more customers.
We see significant opportunities for continued growth in Cyprus. As consumers increasingly embrace digital commerce and businesses look for new ways to grow, we want to continue creating value for everyone in our ecosystem—helping local businesses reach more customers, offering consumers greater choice and convenience, and contributing to the continued development of local commerce across Cyprus.
To what extent can digital platforms, such as Wolt, help local businesses grow?
Today, Wolt is much more than a sales and delivery platform. It has become a strategic growth partner for local businesses, helping them reach new customers, while giving them access to digital tools, and new growth opportunities.
Our success is closely linked to the success of our partners. That is why we continue to invest in technology and business solutions such as Wolt Ads, Storefront, and Wolt Capital, giving merchants the tools to increase their visibility, attract new customers, improve their operations, and grow their business.
The value of this model is also reflected in the Wolt Local Commerce Survey 2025, conducted by Copenhagen Economics. According to the survey, 88% of partner businesses reported an increase in total sales through Wolt, 82% said they acquired new customers, while the majority stated that partnering with Wolt significantly accelerated their digital transformation. These findings demonstrate that digital platforms can act as a value multiplier for local businesses and the wider economy.
Ultimately, the strongest validation of our model is the trust that thousands of businesses across Cyprus place in us every day. For many of them, Wolt is not simply another sales channel — it has become a long-term partner that helps them grow, adapt to changing consumer habits, and succeed in an increasingly digital economy.
Your visit to Cyprus comes on the occasion of the “Shaping the Next Digital Frontier” conference, organised by the Deputy Ministry of Innovation, which explored the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence. How does Wolt leverage technology and AI in its operations, and what role do you believe digital platforms play in driving digital transformation?
Wolt is first and foremost, a technology company. We develop our technology in-house to enable local commerce to operate in a digital, on-demand environment, seamlessly connecting consumers, businesses, and courier partners through a single platform.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an integral part of this effort. It helps us forecast demand more accurately, optimise logistics, personalise customer experience, and develop smarter tools for our partner businesses.
For small and medium-sized businesses, this means access to technology and infrastructure that would otherwise be difficult to develop independently. For consumers, it translated into a faster, more reliable and personalised experience.
At the same time, we believe that innovation must always go hand in hand with transparency and accountability. That is why we publish the Algorithmic Transparency Report every year, providing clear insight into how the platform’s core algorithmic systems operate.
We believe that digital platforms can play a decisive role in the digital transformation of the economy, not only by making everyday life easier for consumers, but also by giving small and medium-sized businesses access to technology, infrastructure, and tools to boost their competitiveness.
One of the most important issues currently facing the industry is the implementation of the EU Platform Work Directive. How do you see the sector evolving, and what does this mean for Wolt's courier partner model?
The EU Platform Work Directive is one of the most crucial developments for the future of our industry, and we believe it can serve as an opportunity to shape a modern framework that combines the protection of courier partners with the preservation of the flexibility chosen by each courier partner.
Today, approximately 3,500 courier partners earn an income through Wolt’s platform in Cyprus. The majority works with Wolt through fleet management companies, while a smaller proportion partner directly with the platform as self-employed couriers, a model that remains a key priority for us.
Our experience with courier partners shows that flexibility and autonomy are the main reasons they choose to work through our platform. Whether they are looking to earn additional income or seeking greater control over their schedules, the model allows them to work in a way that best suits their needs and lifestyle. According to a Copenhagen Economics study (2024), 87% of Wolt courier partners globally prefer working as independent contractors rather than employees, with flexibility cited as the primary reason.
For us, flexibility and the protection of courier partners are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, we believe the two can and should go hand in hand. That is why the way in which the Directive is implemented into national law will be crucial, ensuring that the new framework takes into account both the specific characteristics of platform work and the needs and preferences of those who choose this type of work.
Drawing on our experience across multiple European markets, Wolt remains actively involved in the conversation with policymakers and other stakeholders. Our goal is to support the development of a framework that protects courier partners while preserving the flexibility and opportunities that make the model attractive in the first place.
