- Uber recently announced that it is acquiring a majority stake in Cornershop, a grocery delivery company serving the Latin American market
Ridesharing giant Uber recently announced it plans to acquire a majority stake in Chile-based Cornershop, a grocery delivery company serving the Latin American market. More recently, Cornershop also started offering its service in Toronto — which is its first North American city.
This deal is expected to close in early 2020 once it receives regulatory approval.
Launched in 2015 by Oskar Hjertonsson, Daniel Undurraga, and Juan Pablo Cuevas, Cornershop is going to continue operating independently for now. However, the main change is that Cornershop’s executives will be reporting to a board that includes a majority Uber representation.
“Whether it’s getting a ride, ordering food from your favorite restaurant, or soon, getting groceries delivered, we want Uber to be the operating system for your everyday life,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “We’re excited to partner with the team at Cornershop to scale their vision, and look forward to working with them to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform.”
Since being founded, Cornershop raised more than $30 million in funding from investors like Accel and Jackson Square Ventures. Cornershop was actually close to getting acquired by Walmart in a deal valued at $225 million, but the deal fell through in June after Mexican anti-trust regulators blocked it according to Reuters. Walmart continued working with Cornership as a partnership and was an essential partner for the expansion in Toronto.
“In 2015 we started Cornershop with primarily the Latin American market in mind and we couldn’t be more excited to work with Uber to help us take that mission much further,” added Hjertonsson. “Uber is the perfect partner as we embark on our quest to bring our unique flavor of on-demand groceries from incredible retail partners to many more countries around the world.”
