Uber seemed to have a clear expansion plan in mind for Europe. It was about to charge into the new territories of Austria, Norway, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Greece. According to the Financial Times, that plan, announced five months ago, has been “paused.” Commentators watching from the sidelines seem to think it has an alternate plan for world domination: Delivery Hero.
In May, Delivery Hero announced that Uber was trying to acquire it in a deal that would value it at 10 billion euros. If you’re in the U.S., you’ve likely never heard of the German food delivery app Delivery Hero. It’s huge in North Africa and the Middle East, and also operates in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. It claims to have 40,000 employees across 65 countries.
Interestingly, it doesn’t operate in its home country of Germany, having been driven out in 2021 by a competitor called Just Eat Takeaway.
But as the FT notes, Delivery Hero has a footprint in all of the territories Uber was about to penetrate. Its Foodora operates in Austria, Norway, and the Czech Republic, and another Delivery Hero brand, efood, exists in Greece. In Romania, it operates Glovo.
FT says Uber only backtracked on those five of its European expansions, and that two others are still moving forward. FT doesn’t indicate whether Delivery Hero operates whimsically named apps in those countries too.
Piece by piece, Uber had already been buying up shares of Delivery Hero. As of May, Uber owns 19.5%, and Delivery Hero says—at least publicly—that it “welcomes Uber’s additional investment as a further endorsement of its platform and Everyday App strategy.”
