Delivery Hero Group, the leading global online food ordering and delivery marketplace, announced today it has agreed to acquire Carriage, a young and fast-growing food delivery platform based in Kuwait and operating in the Gulf Council Countries (GCC). Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction. For Delivery Hero, this is yet another acquisition in order to further grow its food delivery business on a global scale. Berlin-based Delivery Hero is likely to pursue an IPO later this year.
Carriage operates a hybrid business model offering both, delivery marketplaces and own delivery services in the Middle East, allowing it to add restaurants to its marketplaces that either do not offer deliver services themselves or intend to discontinue their own delivery services. This hybrid business model reflects a wider shift across several regions with a growing demand of customers and restaurants for such combined services. The acquisition ensures that Delivery Hero will stay at the forefront of this shift.
Niklas Östberg, CEO of Delivery Hero, stated: “Carriage is an innovative player in the Middle Eastern food delivery market with an excellent management team. It will be a perfect addition to our current offering under the Talabat brand and strengthen our foothold in this region, where we see significant growth potential.”
Abdullah Jihad Almutawa, the CEO of Carriage commented: “We are delighted to join forces with the leading global player in our space and are excited about the new opportunities that lie ahead of us. Becoming part of Delivery Hero will strengthen our business and extend our reach considerably.”
Carriage was founded in 2016 and is managed by CEO Abdullah Jihad Almutawa, CFO Musab Jihad Almutawa, COO Khaled Youssef Alqabandi, and CTO Jonathan Lau. In total, the young company was able to raise about $1.3 million in seed funding. The founder team was key to the acquisition and will remain on board going forward. The startup was founded in Kuwait and has extended into several other markets in the region.
Delivery Hero was founded in 2011. During previous funding rounds, the European unicorn was already valued at more than $3 billion. In total, Berlin-based Delivery Hero raised more than $1 billion in venture capital. The food delivery giant counts over 6,000 employees.