Uber to Acquire Drizly for $1.1 Billion

Uber is acquiring Drizly for $1.1 billion, with plans for the apps to integrate and provide users with alcohol delivery.

Drizly is an on-demand alcohol marketplace in the US and is available in more than 1,400 cities across the country. Drizly works with local merchants to provide consumers with beer, wine and spirits with competitive and transparent pricing, while being fully compliant with regulations.

After the acquisition, Drizly will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber and their marketplace will be integrated with the Uber Eats app, while maintaining the Drizly application as well.

“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 Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a statement.

Drizly also plans on innovating and expanding independently in the fast-growing market while gaining access to Uber, a mobile marketplace technology that is experienced in food delivery and ridesharing.

Related: Uber Buys Food Delivery Service Postmates for $2.65 Billion

Drizly will benefit from using Uber’s technology and accommodating their consumer base but Uber will also benefit by providing consumers with more consumer goods categories, such as alcohol. Delivery drivers will have more ways to earn money, and there will be rewards and subscription programs that will give consumers greater benefits on Drizly.

“Drizly has spent the last eight 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 in the statement.

According to the statement, “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.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, consumers turned to on-demand delivery as an option for consuming their favorite restaurant foods and meals at home. Delivery services such as Uber, DoorDash, Skip the Dishes and more grew vastly in popularity. The on-demand delivery categories expanded from just ordering meals from restaurants to receiving essentials from pharmacies, pet stores, retail stores and more.

Uber shares have gone up 6.5 percent to $56.20 per share since the announcement.

Khosrowshahi calls this deal a “win-win” saying that Uber users will be able to receive alcohol delivery services, while Drizly will be accessible to millions of Uber users immediately, according to CNBC.