If reports are anything to go by, the ride-hailing company, Uber is all set to venture into the beer, wine, and liquor delivery for its customers in the US. Uber, in the coming months, will acquire Drizly, which is an online delivery storefront for existing local liquor stores for $1.1 billion.
Once the acquisition is complete, Drizly will be integrated into Uber Eats, which continues to operate in the US. Uber Eats, however, had earlier ended its business in India due to though competition from other food delivery platforms.
So, the liquor delivery scheme is probably not coming to India anytime soon.
“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. 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,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an announcement. However, Drizly will also continue to work independently in the US “while also gaining access to the advanced mobile marketplace technologies of the world’s largest food delivery and ridesharing platform.”
Uber hasn’t had the best of run with businesses that do not offer rides but are under its banner. However, Uber’s CEO says that the company has foregone the money-losing parts of the business and is pushing towards profitability.
Zomato, last year in January, had acquired the Indian operations of Uber Eats for $350 million. For the unaware, Zomato, during the lockdown period started delivering alcohol in some parts of the country.
