Uber will acquire food-delivery service Postmates in an all-stock transaction valued at $2.65 billion.
San Francisco-based Postmates, a competitor of the Uber Eats platform, will continue to operate as its own app following the acquisition.
The deal comes as Uber’s ride-hailing business has suffered due to the coronavirus crisis: In May, Uber slashed its customer support and recruitment headcount by 3,700.
In a release, Uber says Postmates is “highly complementary” to Uber Eats and boasts differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics, as well as “strong relationships with small- and medium-sized restaurants, particularly local favorites.”
For restaurants and merchants, Uber Eats and Postmates will offer more tools and technology to efficiently connect them with a bigger consumer base.
According to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Q2 bookings on Uber Eats are up more than 100% year-on-year.
“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,” he says.
Says Postmates co-founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann: “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.”
Founded in 2011, Postmates has more than 500,000 fleet members, 600,000 merchants and serves 80% of households across all 50 states.