Third-Party Delivery Market Continues Consolidation: Uber to Buy Postmates

Uber has struck a deal to buy food delivery app Postmates for $2.65B in an all-stock deal.

The Uber/Postmates deal comes less than a month after Just Eat Takeaway.com NV announced it has agreed to acquire U.S. third party delivery platform Grubhub Inc. for $7.3 billion.

This transaction brings together Uber’s global Rides and Eats platform with Postmates’ delivery business in the U.S.

According to a statement. Postmates differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics are complementary along with the DaaS’ strong relationships with small- and medium-sized restaurants, while Uber is expanding its efforts in the delivery of groceries, essentials and other goods.

Following the closing of the transaction, Uber intends to keep the consumer-facing Postmates app running separately, supported by a more efficient, combined merchant and delivery network.

Increasing Demand for On Demand Delivery

The deal comes as more consumers are seeking out relying on food delivery services to get their restaurant meals and groceries during COVID-19. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Q2 bookings on Uber Eats are up more than 100% year on year.

Postmates Co-Founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann said the Postmates’ single mission is to “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. … 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.”