Uber will acquire Cornershop, a grocery delivery startup that initially served the Latin American market and recently shifted to offer service in Toronto, its first North American city.
The ride-sharing platform announced that it expects its acquisition of a majority ownership stake in Cornershop in early 2020, once it receives all necessary regulatory sign-offs.
Headquartered in Chile, Cornershop was founded in 2015 by Oskar Hjertonsson, Daniel Undurraga and Juan Pablo Cuevas. According to Uber, the company will continue to operate in its current form for now and will report to a board that includes Uber leadership.
Over the course of four rounds of funding, Cornershop raised US$31.7m (£24.5m) from investors including Accel, Jackson Square Ventures and others.
The on-demand grocery company was due to be acquired by Walmart for US$225m (£174.5m) announced, however the deal ultimately fell apart when Mexican anti-trust regulators blocked it from going through.
Uber has previously experimented with grocery delivery, including in partnership with Walmart, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said that grocery delivery is a natural place for the company to expand its business, given the success of Uber Eats.
