Oda

In 2013, ten enthusiastic young entrepreneurs with backgrounds in strategy, technology and logistics founded Kolonial.no, the company that would eventually become Oda.

"We didn’t know much about groceries, but we had a bold ambition: to shake up the industry with technology, design and efficiency and make life better and simpler for families with the best shopping experience possible." (Our former CEO, Karl Munthe Kaas)

It was with grit, motivation, a commitment to excellence, and a healthy dose of optimistic naïveté, that the team embarked upon this mission. Over the next four years, Kolonial.no became the leading player in the Norwegian online grocery market.

In 2018 and 2019, we established a world-class value chain, reaching efficiency levels that caught international attention. When the pandemic hit in 2020, it quickly became clear we were one of very few operations that could handle the increased pandemic demand. This unexpected boost gave us the confidence to plan bigger and begin exploring new markets.

In 2021, we began our international expansion, launching operations in Finland, followed later by Germany. While "kolonial" had grocery-related connotations in Norway, we knew it wasn't a name that would work internationally. That meant we needed a new name, along with a complete rebrand. But what do you call a company active in three countries with distinct languages and pronunciations, and when you also have ambitions for further global expansion?

After a lot of discussion and multiple voting rounds, the choice was made: Oda – a short, catchy, memorable Norwegian name. Along with that came our distinctive visual identity, making our egg-yolk yellow vans a cheerful daily reminder of our presence on the roads and in the market.

Sadly, our presence in these new countries was relatively short-lived. Due to a new economic reality following the pandemic, we had to adapt in order to survive, closing down our Finnish and German operations in 2023.

However, we adopted the mindset that when one door closes, another one opens, finding the perfect partner for a Norwegian-Swedish online grocery collaboration in Mathem. This merger, which took place in 2024, has been a gift to both companies: we have gained fantastic new colleagues who share our ambition to create more space for life for our customers.

In an industry where a handful of large players dominate the market, we are determined to keep on challenging the status quo, proving that you don't have to play by the old rules when you design a new and better game from scratch!