©Postmates
Uber has agreed to acquire US food delivery service Postmates in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $2.65 billion.
Postmates offers a food delivery and collection service via a website and app, allowing consumers to purchase meals, groceries and other amenities from a network of 600,000 restaurants and stores across all 50 US states.
According to Uber, Postmates will operate as a complementary service to the company’s existing Uber Eats delivery service, due to Postmates’ differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics, as well as the firm’s “strong relationships” with small- and medium-sized restaurants.
Uber confirmed that it intends to keep the consumer-facing Postmates app running separately, though both services will benefit from expanded delivery and merchant networks.
The purchase hints that competition in the food delivery sector is heating up in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, as it follows Just Eat’s decision to acquire the Grubhub delivery service for $7.3 billion last month, creating the largest food delivery service outside of China. Uber was rumoured to be in discussions with Grubhub regarding an acquisition, but ultimately did not secure a deal for the service.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said: “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.
“As more people and more restaurants have come to use our services, Q2 bookings on Uber Eats are up more than 100% 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”.
Postmates co-founder and CEO, Bastian Lehmann, added: “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.
“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”.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024