Uber to buy Postmates for $2.65 bn in an all-stock agreement: Report

Founded in 2011, San Francisco-based Postmates accounted for 8% of the U.S. meal delivery market in May, according to analytics firm Second Measure.

Ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc has agreed on a deal to buy food-delivery app Postmates Inc in a $2.65 billion all-stock agreement, Bloomberg News reported late Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The deal has been approved by Uber's board and could be announced as soon as Monday, Bloomberg reported, adding that Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, head of Uber's food delivery business, Uber Eats, is expected to continue to run the combined delivery business.

Uber and Postmates did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Last week, Reuters reported that Postmates had revived plans for an initial public offering following dealmaking in the U.S. online food delivery service sector that sparked acquisition interest in the company.

Postmates was last valued at $2.4 billion, when it raised $225 million in a private fundraising round last September.

Founded in 2011, San Francisco-based Postmates accounted for 8% of the U.S. meal delivery market in May, according to analytics firm Second Measure.

Uber had plans to also acquire Grubhub Inc through its Uber Eats business, but walked away from the deal as Just Eat Takeaway.com NV eventually reached a $7.3 billion agreement last month to buy the U.S. online food delivery company.

Covid-19 outbreak: Zomato may now get liquor for you amid lockdown

Zomato has already diversified into grocery as the restrictions on movement shuttered some restaurants and people hesitated to order outside food.

Food delivery firm Zomato aims to branch out into delivering alcohol, according to a document seen by Reuters, as it seeks to cash in on high demand for booze during the coronavirus lockdown.

Zomato has already diversified into grocery as the restrictions on movement shuttered some restaurants and people hesitated to order outside food.

Alcohol stores, closed nationwide on March 25, were allowed to re-open this week, generating queues of hundreds of people, leading to baton charges by police to enforce social distancing.

There is no legal provision for home deliveries of alcohol in India, something that industry body International Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI) is lobbying to change in conjunction with Zomato and others.

"We believe that a tech-enabled home-delivery based solution can promote responsible consumption of alcohol," Mohit Gupta, Zomato's CEO for food delivery, wrote in a business proposal to ISWAI.

Zomato would target "areas that are less affected by Covid-19," Gupta wrote in the unpublished document, submitted to ISWAI in mid-April and seen by Reuters.

Zomato did not respond to a request for comment.

ISWAI's executive chairman Amrit Kiran Singh said: "The challenge is to ensure revenue from alcohol continues to be available. It is imperative they (states) reduce the load on the retail counter by encouraging delivery."

Jeff Bezos teams up with Narayana Murthy to enter India's food delivery biz

Amazon's entry in the food delivery business comes at a time when Zomato and Swiggy have started cutting back on discounts.

Amazon is all set to start its food delivery business in India from Bengaluru next month, says a news report in The Economic Times.

The launch of the service, which would be offered as part of either Amazon’s Prime Now or Amazon Fresh platform, could happen as soon as next month. With this, Amazon will take on estabished players such as Zomato and Swiggy.

Executives at two restaurants, who did not want to be named, confirmed that Prione Business Services, a joint venture between Infosys cofounder NR Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures and Amazon India, has been signing contracts with brands to list on Amazon, offering 10-15% commissions, the report said.

The report points out the e-commerce giant had already started pilot testing its service in select parts of Bengaluru, and by March, it will be rolling out to other parts of the country, says a news report in Dainik Bhaskar

Amazon’s entry into the food delivery market would create new challenges for Prosus Ventures -backed Swiggy, and Zomato, a 10-year-old startup that acquired Uber’s Eats business in India for about $180 million in January.

Amazon's entry in the food delivery business comes at a time when Zomato and Swiggy have started cutting back on discounts.

Last month, Bezos told the audience at an Amazon event in New Delhi that the company plans to invest $1 billion in India.

Goods delivery by drones gets closer to reality, updated policy unveiled

In August, govt released the first version of drone policy.

Article Source BS : The government has proposed allowing delivery of goods by drones, paving the way for commercial applications in the field. In drone policy 2.0, unveiled on Tuesday, the government has proposed permitting their operations beyond the visual line of sight.

“Commercial UAS (unmanned aerial system) operations will foster various new forms of air freight capabilities, such as creation of supply chain relay networks for delivery of payload, transport of temperature-sensitive commodities like bodily organs, emergency or just-in-time deliveries of life-saving medicines or safe blood for transfusions and collection of patient specimens for delivery to laboratory for time-sensitive testing,” the document said. The updated version of drone policy was unveiled by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha at the Global Aviation Summit.

“There are opportunities for our aviation sector and for India's start-up industry as India is set to become a global leader as far as the drone ecosystem is concerned. It's important for us to have a policy road map and regulations that support the growth of the drone ecosystem,” Sinha said.

A person aware of the development said that delivery by drones was permitted after multiple food delivery companies such as Zomato and Swiggy had demanded it.

However, the proposal is a recommendation and a task force led by the civil aviation secretary and the director general of civil aviation finalise the guidelines. “The technical specifications and finer details will be finalised by the task force,” the person said.

E-commerce major Amazon has used a drone to deliver a bag of popcorn to an address in rural England in the first commercial outing for a technology that is the US group’s boldest step towards automating deliveries.

For the same purpose, the government intends to build ports where drones can land and take off.

“Droneports are proposed to be designated areas dedicated to facilitate take-off and landing of the drones. Licensing of such ports may be granted by the authorities concerned upon meeting the prescribed technical specification,” the document says.

In August, the ministry released the first version of drone policy, which makes it legal for individuals and companies to operate drones in certain areas other than those barred for security reasons. The ministry, however, held back approval of the commercial use of drones as taxis, delivery vehicles, and other services.

According to the regulations, there are five categories of drones by weight: Nano, micro, small, medium and large. For flying in controlled airspace, the filing of a flight plan and obtaining Air Defence Clearance (ADC)/Flight Information Centre (FIC) number will be necessary. The regulation defines “no-drone zones” as areas around airports, near the international border, Vijay Chowk in New Delhi, state secretariat complexes in state capitals, and strategic locations and vital military installations.