Strategic Investments in the Food Delivery Industry

Uber is no longer just investing in Delivery Hero — it is moving closer to the crown jewels Uber has increased its stake in Delivery Hero to 19.5%, while securing another 5.6% through options. That is no passive position. In platform economics, stakes of this size create strategic proximity: proximity to assets, data, regional market leadership and future optionality. The interesting part is not only Delivery Hero itself. It is the portfolio underneath. Delivery Hero controls some of the most strategic delivery assets across high-growth regions: • talabat in the Gulf region • Yemeksepeti in Turkey • Glovo across Southern Europe, Africa and parts of Eastern Europe These are not simply delivery brands. They are deeply embedded local consumer infrastructure platforms with strong logistics density, high order frequency and significant market share in regions where competition barriers are structurally high. Uber already dominates mobility in many global cities. The missing piece has always been stronger positioning in several international delivery markets outside North America. This latest move inevitably raises a larger question: Is Uber gradually positioning itself for deeper strategic influence over Delivery Hero’s most valuable regional assets? The timing adds another layer. The investment increase follows governance pressure from shareholders, the announced departure of co-founder Niklas Östberg and Delivery Hero’s ongoing strategic review. In global platform markets, strategic stakes are rarely only financial. They create visibility, influence and potential pathways toward partnerships, asset carve-outs, regional consolidation or eventually larger transactions. The delivery sector is entering a different phase now. The era of aggressive expansion is giving way to: • consolidation • profitability focus • ecosystem control • infrastructure ownership • regional dominance And in that environment, platforms like Talabat, Yemeksepeti and Glovo become exceptionally strategic assets. Uber’s latest move suggests the company understands exactly that. #uber #deliveryhero #glovo #talabat #yemeksepeti #fooddelivery #quickcommerce #ecommerce #retail #retailtech #foodtech #logistics #platformeconomy #mobility #digitalcommerce #marketplaces #consumertech #investors #privateequity #venturecapital #startups #technology #marketing #sales #omnichannel #germany #usa #turkey #middleeast #europe

Q1-25 Global Food-Delivery Scorecard: profitable growth or land-grab? Q1-2025 numbers from the leading platforms show a market still expanding but rapidly bifurcating between cash-generating scale players and land-grab challengers. - Meituan: Revenue $11.9 B; net profit $1.39 - DoorDash: Revenue $3.0 B (+21 % YoY); net income $193 M; orders +18 % - Uber: (Eats)Delivery GB $20.4 B (+15 %); revenue $3.78 B (+18 %); EBITDA $763 M (+45 %) - Grab: Revenue $773 M (+18 %); net profit $10 M; Delivery EBITDA $63 M (+50 %) - Delivery Hero: GMV $13.4 B; revenue $3.79 B; margin improving  - Just Eat Takeaway.com: GTV $5.11 B; orders –6 %; extra $0.15 B investment - Deliveroo: GTV $2.41 B; revenue $0.67 B; orders +7 % - Swiggy: Revenue $0.52 B; net loss $0.13 B (Instamart drag) - Zomato: Revenue $0.68 B; net profit $0.005 B (–78 % YoY) - talabat: Revenue $0.85 B; GMV $2.1 B; EBITDA $0.14 B Why is it Important? • Global demand is still rising (orders +7-18 % for scale leaders) even after the pandemic boost. • Profit pool is concentrating: positive EBITDA at DoorDash, Uber Eats, Meituan, talabat; others fund expansion losses. • Ad & retail media is emerging as the new margin lever—platform ads already 4-6 % of revenue at the US leaders. • Quick-commerce grocery remains the growth engine (Blinkit, Instamart, Dmart, Keeta) but drags on short-term profits. • Cross-border M&A heat-up: Prosus Group bid for Just Eat Takeaway.com; DoorDash talks of deeper Wolt + Deliveroo ties. Implications, Next moves, Competitive & Market consequences - Profit vs. share trade-off intensifies – Investors now reward solid EBITDA; expect funding to tighten for laggards, pushing them toward consolidation or regional focus. - Quick commerce 2.0 – Grocery dark-stores shift to hybrid “marketplace + owned inventory” to boost conversion; watch Delivery Hero’s Dmart and Swiggy Instamart unit economics. - Ad monetisation race – DoorDash and Uber signal >$1 B ad run-rates; expect copycats across Asia-Pacific where restaurant margins can absorb higher take-rates. - AI & autonomy edge – Autonomous pilots (Uber, Meituan, Talabat) aim at labour-cost compression; timing of scale rollout will set the next margin frontier. - Regulatory squeeze – EU worker-status directive and China’s new platform-fee guidelines could add 80-120 bps cost; platforms with diversified profit streams (fintech, ads) are best hedged. Which strategic path—profitable discipline or aggressive land-grab—will win the next phase of the delivery wars, and how will that shape pricing power for restaurants and brands in 2025-26? 

Bolt exited Croatia. Tazz collapsed in Romania. The 2025 food delivery map isn’t just "consolidating"—it’s solidifying into concrete fortresses. I dove into the latest Pan-European numbers. The era of the "three-player market" is dead. If you aren't #1 or #2, you are bleeding cash. Here is the real state of play across the continent: 1. The "Logistics" vs. "Marketplace" Split Western Europe (UK, France): Uber Eats has effectively won the "frequency war." By cross-selling to ride users, they dominate volume (lunch/fast food), while Just Eat holds onto the high-value "dinner" marketplace. The Nordics: It’s a completely different world. Wolt is impenetrable here. They win on quality and local focus, keeping global giants like Uber at bay. 2. The "Super App" Trap in the South Spain: Glovo is the hegemon with 41% share, despite massive fines. Italy: This is the most interesting battleground. Just Eat makes the most money (highest revenue share), but Glovo has nearly 2x the active users. Why? Because Italians use Glovo for everything (pharmacy, groceries), not just pizza. 3. Profit is the new Viral Just Eat posted €147M in EBITDA. The cash burn is over. Two years ago, these apps lost money on every order just to get you to sign up. Now, they are actually focusing on profit. How? 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬. That rider you see isn't just carrying a pizza anymore. He is carrying milk, aspirin, and diapers at 2 PM on a Tuesday. That’s the secret. Food orders peak at lunch and dinner. But couriers need work in between. Groceries fill the gap. It’s not really "Food Delivery" anymore. It’s just local commerce. So, the winners in 2025 aren't just the ones with the best app. It’s the ones who figured out how to deliver a tomato profitably. Who is your go-to app these days?

Since 2020, we've accepted third-party delivery as a necessity and as a new channel. But the numbers say differently: 📈 Mobile / First-Party App: +21.3% YoY 📈 In-Store Kiosks: +27% YoY 📉 Third-Party Delivery: -5.7% YoY Third-Party Delivery is not the entirety of the digital channel, and yet so many brands I see stop here. We should be thinking of a brand's entire digital existence, and how to manage it across multiple channels: in-store, delivery, catering, third-party platforms, and more. Never has this become more apparent, as the above data shows. And here’s what’s really driving the flip: generational behavior. Gen Z and Millennials are leading the move to owned channels. As digital natives, Gen Z is also value-driven in this economy. They know when fees are bloated, they know when data is being mined, and they prefer brands that offer direct rewards and personalization. Gen Z is far more excited about new digital food experiences and willing to adopt kiosk/mobile as their default ordering path. They want speed, control, and loyalty perks in one tap. Boomers, who historically are heavier third-party delivery users, are pulling back. Rising fees and inflation have them reconsidering whether convenience is worth the premium. They still expect a more traditional level of service and always expect value, preferring an in-store experience, and pick-up. The result? Third-party isn’t dead, but it’s becoming the “expensive splurge,” not the everyday habit. The everyday choice is shifting to direct digital channels that the operator controls. As an Advisor and Investor in this industry, here's my takeaway for restaurant leaders: 💡 Build for Gen Z loyalty now, because they’re already shaping the industry’s economics. 💡 Invest in owning your customer data and leveraging it across all channels, from loyalty to online ordering. 💡 Treat third-party as a funnel, not as a channel: focus on guest conversion to native platforms. The future of growth isn’t on someone else’s platform and with someone else's customers. It’s in owning your brand's entire ecosystem, inclusive of digital. I ask you: Do you think Third-Party Delivery is dying? Now ask yourself: When did you last use Third-Party Delivery? #digitalinnovation #digital #strategy #restaurants #restaurantmanagement #restaurantindustry #food

CAVA (~$35M/restaurant) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (~$20M/restaurant) far outperform other industry comps for valuation per location. What's their secret? A recent conversation with investor Andy Giacone from Roark Capital summed it up brilliantly: "I've done due diligence on a LOT of public and private restaurants. One of the assets that consistently leads to the highest valuations is the robustness of a brand's loyalty program. For B2C businesses, a scale and high-performing loyalty program is almost as important as recurring revenue in B2B." Why? Performant loyalty programs offers predictability and therefore downside protection while also making it far easier to achieve robust future growth. McKinsey & Company concurs: "While growth is difficult to sustain, it is generously rewarded. In examining 15 major publicly traded restaurant companies... there was a more than 80 percent correlation between annualized same-store sales growth and annualized total shareholder returns.... Successful loyalty programs translate directly into financial results, often encouraging both larger order sizes and greater order frequency from program members. These programs can funnel customers into brands’ first-party delivery businesses, which offer the brand higher margins than it receives from orders conducted through third-party delivery services."

Zomato has invested in 4 of its own competitors & it's the smartest thing they've ever done 💯🚨 Most companies try to beat their competitors. Zomato just buys them or buys into them before the fight gets expensive. Uber Eats was burning cash to steal Zomato's Indian users. Zomato acquired them entirely and handed Uber a 9.99% stake in Zomato in return. 0 cash out of pocket, one less competitor in the market, and the entire Uber Eats customer base absorbed overnight. magicpin was pulling dining-out users away with steeper restaurant discounts while simultaneously becoming the backend infrastructure Ola and Rapido were building their food delivery on. Zomato put $50 million in, took 16%, and now owns a piece of the engine its own rivals are forced to run on. TongueStun Food Network Pvt Ltd had locked up India's corporate cafeteria market – daily repeating lunch orders from office professionals, exactly the wallet share Zomato wanted. $18 million in 2018, acquired, done. Swiggy never got close. UrbanPiper controls the software where restaurants manage menus, accept orders, and handle inventory. Zomato and Swiggy both understood that whoever owned this layer owned the kitchen. So they co-invested together ensuring neither could lock the other out. This isn't new tho. Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp before either could threaten it. Uber bought Postmates by Uber for $2.65 billion in 2020 which was a direct food delivery rival eating into the same customer base. The smartest competitive strategy isn't outspending your rivals. It's making your rivals work for you 😉

Zomato’s M&A playbook is legendary & well known (Runnr → F&B delivery, Blinkit → QC, Hyperpure → B2B supply chain, Insider → going out) But, the M&A playbook is closely linked to Zomato’s corporate investment playbook — this is the “Alibaba strategy” (in Deepinder’s own words) i.e. investing in adjacent companies to provide M&A optionality or pure financial upside. Zomato’s commitment to invest $1bn into new age India co’s has been going strong for a while ⤵️ (1) Invested $50M into Cult Fit for ~6.4% ownership in Dec ‘21 🏋♀️ Industry: Health & Wellness | Offline  Optionality: Future re-entry into health & wellness biz; Deepinder is personally bullish on Health. Caveat: $50M capital investment + transfer of sports facility Fitso ($50M) (2) Led Series D in Magicpin: $50M investment for ~16% ownership in Nov ‘21 🛍️ Industry: Commerce | Offline Optionality: Great tag along to the Blinkit biz (dark store QC) — Magicpin has the 3P inventory from stores.  Insight: NA here. Now, this is a proxy on ONDC. (3) Co-led Series F in Shiprocket: $75M investment (approx.) for ~8% ownership in Sept ‘21 🚛 Industry: Logistics | D2C Brands Optionality: Rumors that they tried to acquire Shiprocket for $2bn. Insight: Zomato is rumored to be re-building Xtreme (hyperlocal logistics) This investment was made when Zomato discontinued its D2C nutraceuticals biz. (4) Invested $5M into Mukund (kitchen appliances co) for 16.66% ownership in March ‘22  🔪 Industry: Electronics  Optionality: Great tag along to the Hyperpure biz (i.e. not just consumables for HoReCa - but also electronics — to grow GMV) Insight: Zomato is rumored to be re-building Xtreme (hyperlocal logistics) PS: Due to this investment, Zomato got a 8% “free” equity stake (for ₹6K) in BeyondNxt Home Appliances — an affiliate of Mukunda. (5) Invested ₹37 crore into Urban Piper Tech for 5% ownership in Jan ‘22 💳 Industry: Software | Order Mgt & POS | Restaurants Optionality: Data — richest data set on restaurant performance outside the Zomato ecosystem PS: Swiggy is an investor too 😆 (6) Invested ₹112 crore into AdOnMo for 19.8% in Jan ‘22 Industry: OOH / offline advertising Optionality: Yet to figure this out 🧠The beauty of this interlinked corporate investment and M&A playbook is that Zomato has a LOT of optionality (relationship, industry info etc) to create “many more Blinkit’s” in the future across: (a) Health & Wellness — brands, foods & locations (b) Logistics (c) Consumer & business electronics ➡️ Back in ‘21, Zomato first took a 9% stake in Blinkit, later bought it in ‘22. Blinkit is a significant value driver. Zomato is one of few companies where it makes sense to study the corporate investments. Always fascinated by what this company is able to pull off #startups #india

Think Zomato acquired only Blinkit & Paytm Insider? Well, you are wrong. There's much more to it. Zomato is building it's own ecosystem. From logistics and table reservation technology to entertainment ticketing, Zomato is building an ecosystem that meets various consumer needs. Acquiring Runnr and Sparse Labs enhances delivery logistics, reducing costs and improving customer experience. Acquisitions like Uber Eats and Paytm Insider expand Zomato's service offerings, increasing revenue streams. International acquisitions such as Urbanspoon & Obedovat help Zomato grow its global presence and user base. Blinkit and Fitso acquisitions allowed Zomato to enter quick commerce and health sectors, unlocking new revenue opportunities. Acquiring Feeding India highlights Zomato's commitment to social impact, enhancing brand reputation. With the acquisition of Paytm Insider, they would directly become the No. 2 company in the movies and events ticketing space, just next to BookMyShow. Zomato's forward-thinking and adaptability in the ever-evolving food-tech industry is truly impressive! A perfect strategic acquisition story covering each segment and ticking all the boxes.

While betting on yourself in business is one thing, betting on another is a different level of risk appetite. But, I am game for it! I started my journey as an investor some time back and have been keenly observing this space to invest in relevant startups that will change the future of the food industry. Over the years, I have realized that some clear defining markers can help you gauge the potential of an F&B D2C startup and investor trust. ➡ People: Founders & Team - The credibility, reputation and integrity of the founding and the core team is one of the key elements that builds investor trust ➡ Entry Barriers: Direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses make high profits because they don't use middlemen. But, the cost of getting new customers is high, which eats into these profits. Therefore, for a startup to survive, it must sell a lot of products. This makes the size and growth of the market very important. ➡ Business Idea Viability - Customer acquisition costs (CAC) have risen due to increased competition for consumer attention, underscoring the importance of maximizing customer lifetime value (LTV) for organizational sustainability. Achieving a high LTV can be approached in two ways by either ensuring a high average order value or by encouraging regular and repeat purchases. ➡ Marketing Plan: The idea, approach and strategy you use to market your product/ service to your customers can make or break your brand. A great idea marketed poorly will only add to the advantage of competition. Especially in the volatile D2C F&B segment you have to be crystal clear with the value proposition so as not to create confusion or mislead. ➡ Market Potential: The ineffectiveness of existing companies in a market is crucial for a startup's ability to disrupt it. One can evaluate the market landscape based on the competition they face in the market they are currently playing in along with the pain points in the customer's life and the size of this customer base. The more specific the problem, the higher the chances of success. The larger the group of customers who are affected by this problem, the more essential becomes the existence of the company and adds to its lifespan. Above said, the F&B start-up space is hotting up. Specifically, the D2C model as consumers seek more personalized high-quality food experiences ( businessline https://lnkd.in/g49EcFF8 ) . Time to look at some great investments. If you are looking at investing then use the above rule book to find the right brands to invest. #invest #wefounderscircle #investment #d2c #fundraise #foodstartups We Founder Circle Jyoti Banthia

Deliveroo marks DoorDash’s latest move in a long-running strategy of using acquisitions to expand both horizontally and vertically. Let’s take a look at their acquisition history. DoorDash spent $13.1B across 5 acquisitions from 2021-2025. The thesis: control every touchpoint in restaurant commerce. The execution: 2021: Infrastructure • Chowbotics (Feb): Kitchen automation - enables virtual restaurants without new real estate • Wolt (Nov): European market entry - instant 22-country footprint with local ops expertise, $8.1B • Q1-Q4 revenue: $1.08B → $1.30B 2022: Operations • Wolt integration complete (Jun): European supply density - shared logistics network • Bbot (Mar): In-venue ordering - captures dine-in transactions beyond delivery • Q1-Q4 revenue: $1.46B → $1.82B 2023-2024: Scale • Revenue growth: $2.0B → $2.9B • No major acquisitions - integration and margin expansion phase 2025: Market control • SevenRooms (May): Reservation/CRM layer - owns guest data across delivery + dine-in, $1.2B • Deliveroo (Oct): European consolidation - removes largest competitor, adds UK/Ireland density, $3.9B • Q1-Q3 revenue: $3.0B → $3.3B With control over logistics, in-store ordering, reservations, and regional density, DoorDash is positioning itself as the operating system of global restaurant commerce.