![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Postmates.jpg?fit=578%2C286&strip=all\")
<\/p>\nUber today confirmed<\/a> it’s buying on-demand delivery company Postmates<\/a> in an all-stock deal valued at $2.65 billion. The announcement follows a week of intense speculation<\/a>, with Bloomberg reporting<\/a> earlier this morning that the deal was done, though neither company had responded to the claims until now.<\/p>\n Uber says it will leverage Postmates to boost its own burgeoning food delivery business, Uber Eats, as well as its broader “delivery-as-a-service” push. Uber said that after the acquisition closes, the consumer-facing Postmates app will be maintained as a standalone entity, though merchants and customers will benefit from a combined delivery network.<\/p>\n Uber is no stranger to strategic acquisitions, having recently paid $3.1 billion for Middle Eastern ride-hailing rival Careem<\/a> and bought a controlling stake<\/a> in Latin American grocery delivery startup Cornershop. At the same time, Uber has divested a number of its local businesses to more established rivals in Eastern Europe<\/a>, China<\/a>, and Southeast Asia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Postmates had been a hotly anticipated IPO candidate for 2020<\/a> and filed its paperwork<\/a> confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year. The San Francisco-based company shelved those plans due to a lukewarm response from investors but was reportedly<\/a> preparing to revive its IPO hopes as early as this week, which may have spurred Uber’s acquisition.<\/p>\n Founded in 2011, Postmates emerged as one of the main players in the on-demand food delivery sphere, offering restaurants and other eateries easy access to a smartphone-based delivery network. Although the platform is perhaps best known for delivering food, it can be used to courier just about any item<\/a> between a merchant and buyer. This is similar to the way Uber has evolved, reappropriating the logistics infrastructure from its taxi-like transportation services for Uber Eats<\/a>, which the company announced today has experienced a 100% year-on-year increase in bookings during Q2 2020. A few months back, Uber also unveiled a new service called Uber Connect<\/a>, which repositions its platform as a courier service that allows people to transport almost any item.<\/p>\n Although Postmates briefly explored international expansion with a Mexico launch back in 2017<\/a>, the platform is now exclusively available to U.S. consumers, making this acquisition a purely domestic play for Uber. Indeed, Uber has been working to consolidate its position in the U.S. food delivery market for some time, having reportedly mulled a merger<\/a> with Postmates’ rival DoorDash last year. (Instead, DoorDash confidentially filed for an IPO<\/a> earlier this year before raising another<\/a> $400 million and placing a question mark over the timeline of its plans to go public.) Uber also pursued food delivery juggernaut Grubhub, which was eventually snapped up by European rival Just Eat in a $7.3 billion deal<\/a> a month ago.<\/p>\n After Uber failed to acquire both market leader DoorDash and Grubhub, Postmates was a logical next target. According to<\/a> consumer data analytics firm Second Measure, Postmates had 8% of the U.S. food delivery market in May, behind Uber Eats (22%), GrubHub (23%), and DoorDash (45%). Based on that data, Uber will now be the clear second-biggest player in the fiercely competitive domestic food delivery market.<\/p>\n Uber said it will issue around 84 million shares of common stock for 100% ownership in Postmates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n Tags:<\/b> PAUL SAWERS<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No IPO<\/h2>\n
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PAUL SAWERS<\/p>\n
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Illustration photo taken on June 30, 2020 shows the logo of delivery app Postmates on a smartphone screen in Los Angeles. Image Credit: CHRIS DELMAS \/ Contributor \/ via Getty Uber today confirmed it’s buying on-demand delivery company Postmates in an all-stock deal valued at $2.65 billion. The announcement follows a week of intense speculation, with Bloomberg reporting earlier this morning that … Continue reading Uber confirms $2.7 billion Postmates acquisition<\/span><\/a> Continue Reading
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