Groupon announced Thursday it has acquired OrderUp, an on-demand food delivery startup based in Baltimore, for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition gives Chicago-based Groupon — known for its deals at local restaurants— a way to add food delivery to its offerings. OrderUp is live in 40 cities across the country, many near or around college campuses, in typically smaller markets than GrubHub.
Groupon has already quietly launched Groupon To Go, an online ordering platform that lets users search nearby for food delivery or pickup, which is operating in beta for a small percentage of Chicago customers, said Dan Roarty, SVP of Marketplace, in an email to Blue Sky.
The site lists a number of independent restaurants and chains in downtown Chicago, most with a 5 percent discount. Roarty said the acquisition will boost Groupon as it works on its takeout and delivery offerings for major markets.
Roarty said Groupon has offered takeout and delivery with deals, and that merchants and customers want to see this service on a wider scale.
“This deal is about combining operational capabilities with significant customer scale. Even the current leaders in this category lack Groupon's active customer base and reach,” Roarty said in an email. “Takeout and delivery is one of the obvious use-cases for local commerce, and no one does local better than Groupon.”
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