Uber Technologies, an American technology company that offers ride-hailing, food delivery (Uber Eats), package delivery, couriers and freight transportation announced today to acquire Drizly, an alcohol e-commerce platform for approximately USD 1.1 billion in stock and cash.
Drizly, also referred to by some as the ‘Amazon for liquor,’ is the leading on-demand alcohol marketplace in the United States, available and designed to be fully compliant with local regulations in more than 1,400 cities across a majority of US states. Drizly works with thousands of local merchants to provide consumers with a huge selection of beer, wine, and spirits.
After the completion of the transaction, Drizly will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Uber. Drizly’s marketplace will eventually be integrated with the Uber Eats app, while also maintaining a separate Drizly app.
Lantern, a cannabis delivery service currently operating in Boston and Detroit, that was launched by Drizly in May 2020 is not part of the deal. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC that his company was currently not actively interested in cannabis delivery, but could be more open down the road.
Drizly plans to innovate and expand independently in its fast-growing and competitive sector, while also gaining access to the advanced mobile marketplace technologies of the world’s largest food delivery and ridesharing platform.
“Wherever you want to go and whatever you need to get, our goal at Uber is to make people’s lives a little bit easier. That’s why we’ve been branching into new categories like groceries, prescriptions and, now, alcohol. Cory and his amazing team have built Drizly into an incredible success story, profitably growing gross bookings more than 300 percent year-over-year. By bringing Drizly into the Uber family, we can accelerate that trajectory by exposing Drizly to the Uber audience and expanding its geographic presence into our global footprint in the years ahead,” said Mr. Khosrowshahi.
“Drizly has spent the last 8 years building the infrastructure, technology, and partnerships to bring the consumer a shopping experience they deserve. It’s a proud day for the Drizly team as we recognize what we’ve accomplished to date but also with the humility that much remains to be done to fulfill our vision. With this in mind, we are thrilled to join a world-class Uber team whose platform will accelerate Drizly on its mission to be there when it matters—committed to life’s moments and the people who create them,” said Drizly co-founder and CEO Cory Rellas.
Uber currently anticipates that more than 90 percent of the consideration to be paid to the Drizly stockholders in the transaction will consist of shares of Uber common stock, with the balance to be paid in cash. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close within the first half of 2021.
