Chinmay Bidkar
15 May 2017, India:
Food tech startup Zomato and latest entrant in the market UberEATS are aiming to acquire the acquire food-delivery and logistics startup Runnr as per the report by ET.
Uber spokesperson told ET, “This is a baseless speculation”. On the contrary, a person aware of this said that the ongoing discussions are being held with a view to acqui-hire the core team at Runnr. He said, “Uber has the technology and nobody can beat it. The discussions are meant for an acqui-hire as it helps to have a ready pool of employees in the food delivery space.”
Runnr was formed in July 2016 with the merger of on-demand customer facing food delivery app Tiny Owl and business-to-business last mile delivery company Roadrunnr. The merged entity started with delivering food to consumers and B2B food delivery connecting corporate employees and restaurants on a common portal. Runnr had raised 47 crore from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures in September 2016 to start the altered model of delivery.
UberEATS is an online meal ordering and delivery platform. It partners with restaurants in dozens of cities around the world. Ordering can be done on their website or with a smartphone/tablet application (only iPhone and Android) or website. The website claims a delivery time of 30 minutes or less. It was launched in April 2017 here in India.
Allen Penn, Asia Pacific’s head of UberEATS, sees tremendous potential ahead, “I am incredibly excited about bringing UberEATS to India. This is a significant investment, it spans multiple cities and regions, and it has the potential to change the food industry – with the push of a button – in one of the most vibrant food cultures in the world.”
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