Uber is acquiring the digital alcohol delivery service Drizly for $1.1 billion in stock and cash, according to a report by CNBC.
Once the deal closes — which is expected to happen sometime this year — Drizly’s platform will be folded into the Uber Eats app, but the standalone Drizly app will still be available.
“During this time, our delivery business has been growing at extraordinary rates,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC.
“We essentially want to double-down … we double-downed for grocery and now we’re doubling down on the alcohol delivery, and Drizly by far is the leader in that space.”
He added that although Drizly’s growth was rapid, they grew in the right way, and that its team-up with Uber will further cement its lead in the alcohol delivery sector.
Founded in 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts by Cory Rellas, Justin Robinson, Nicholas Rellas and Spencer Frazier, Drizly is the leading on-demand alcohol delivery service and is available in 1,400 cities.
Drizly found success in the alcohol delivery space by avoiding the one thing that is steeped in rules and regulations — selling and delivering alcohol. In a PYMNTS interview, Rellas explained that Drizly connects people to their local liquor stores and processes the payments. The stores handle the delivery.
In August, Drizly landed $50 million in a Series C funding round, led by New York-based investor Avenir, with Tiger Global and other investors also participating.
