Postmates became known in the USA through the sometimes extravagant orders from stars. But in the tough competition between delivery services, the startup of German co-founder Bastian Lehman fell behind. Now Uber is taking over Postmates for over $ 2.65 billion.
The travel agent Uber wants to take over the delivery startup Postmates. The founders around the German Bastian Lehman and the old investors should receive 2.65 billion dollars in Uber shares for the company, which was founded as one of the first app-based delivery services. The report "Bloomberg" and the "New York Times" citing insiders.
Lehman, together with his co-founders Sam Street and Sean Plaice, founded Postmates in San Francisco in 2011 and had expanded to almost all US cities within a few years. His vision, as Lehman once said in an interview a few years ago, is that of an "anti-Amazon": a service that delivers to local restaurants and retailers instead of replacing them with goods from gigantic central warehouses. The first partner shops included furniture dealers in Los Angeles. However, the main business quickly became food deliveries. Postmates became known, among other things, through actors, musicians and other celebrities who posted their sometimes extravagant orders on social media. Investors have invested around $ 900 million in the company in recent years.
However, in the extremely competitive market for food deliveries in the USA, Postmates was unable to keep up with the rapid growth of its competitors DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub and had a market share of less than ten percent. As far as is known, despite the recent boom due to the Corona crisis, all major delivery services are suffering enormous losses, companies in the industry are currently trying to strengthen their market power through takeovers or mergers. Last month, Uber was cut out by Dutch competitor Just Eat Takeway while trying to take over Stubhub.
The insiders quoted by "Bloomberg" and the "New York Times" do not agree on whether Postmates will remain an independent brand. According to the "Times", the startup should merge with Uber Eats. On the other hand, one of the "Bloomberg" sources reports that Lehman and his team Postmates should continue as an independent delivery service within the Uber group.
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