USA – Uber Technologies, the parent company of Uber Eats has reached a deal to acquire food delivery rival Postmates in an all-stock purchase worth US$2.65bn, marking a major milestone in the long-awaited consolidation in the US food delivery sector.
This transaction brings together Uber’s global Rides and Eats platform with Postmates’ distinctive delivery business in the U.S.
Postmates is highly complementary to Uber Eats with differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics, and Postmates’ strong relationships with small- and medium-sized restaurants, particularly local favourites that drew customers to the Postmates brand.
Additionally, Postmates has been an early pioneer of delivery-as-a-service, which complements Uber’s growing efforts in the delivery of groceries, essentials, and other goods.
“Uber and Postmates have long shared a belief that platforms like ours can power much more than just food delivery—they can be a hugely important part of local commerce and communities, all the more important during crises like COVID-19,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
“As more people and more restaurants have come to use our services, Q2 bookings on Uber Eats are up more than 100 percent year on year. We’re thrilled to welcome Postmates to the Uber family as we innovate together to deliver better experiences for consumers, delivery people, and merchants across the country.”
Uber currently estimates that it will issue approximately 84 million shares of common stock for 100% of the fully diluted equity of Postmates.
“Over the past eight years we have been focused on a single mission: enable anyone to have anything delivered to them on-demand. Joining forces with Uber will continue that mission as we continue to build Postmates while creating an even stronger platform that brings this mission to life for our customers,” said Postmates Co-Founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann.
“Uber and Postmates have been strong allies working together to advocate and create the best practices across our industry, especially for our couriers. Together we can ensure that as our industry continues to grow, it will do so for the benefit of everyone in the communities we serve.”
Meanwhile, Uber has officially launched its grocery delivery service in collaboration with Cornershop in select cities, with further expansion to follow.
Customers in select Latin American and Canadian cities can now order groceries through the Uber and Uber Eats apps. The service will be made available to customers in Miami, Dallas and Florida later this month.
The service has been made available following Uber’s acquisition of online grocery provider Cornershop last year and marks their first product integration together.
Through this partnership, grocery orders placed on Uber and Uber Eats will be facilitated and delivered by Cornershop team members.
Following the Cornershop integration in select cities in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Canada, Uber plans to roll out new grocery delivery features for customers and merchants alike in the US and other cities around the world over the coming months.
“Today’s product integration marks an important step in our partnership with the team at Cornershop to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform,” said Raj Beri, Uber’s global head of grocery.
“Uber started on the premise that people should be able to more easily get to the places they need to go, and to people they care about. This has since evolved to connecting people to food from their favourite local restaurants, and we are thrilled to bring our product expertise to the world of grocery alongside the Cornershop team.”
The launch comes after grocery delivery trials with more than 9,500 merchants in over 30 countries on Uber Eats. According to Uber, it has seen a 176% increase in grocery orders since February.
Following regulatory approval in Chile, Uber’s investment in Cornershop is expected to close in the coming days.
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