Uber WANTS IT ALL - is Delivery Hero Next?
Written by: Adrian Chavez, Megan Wong, Chloe Zhang
Published: 23/06/26
As the global food delivery industry rapidly consolidates around scale and efficiency, will Uber’s potential acquisition of Delivery Hero create the ultimate global local-commerce powerhouse?
Industry overview
The global online food delivery industry has evolved into a highly competitive and technology-driven market worth over US$300 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow at around 9% through to 2034 (Fortune Business Insights, 2026). Growing consumer demand for convenience, seen by the 67% of millennials and 63% of GenZ consumers regularly using food delivery services (Deliverect, 2025), has prompted major players such as Uber, Delivery Hero and DoorDash to expand beyond traditional meal delivery into grocery and quick-commerce services. Notably, as profitability becomes increasingly dependent on economies of scale, the industry has experienced significant consolidation with firms pursuing mergers and acquisitions to expand their global influence and streamline their operations.
Business Overview
Uber is an American multinational transportation company operating across 70 countries, offering services in mobility, delivery and freight. They generated approximately $52 billion in combined 2025 revenue, with Mobility accounting for over half of group revenue and Delivery emerging as Uber’s fastest-growing segment, growing 23% YOY. Despite their diversification strategy, their international reach remains uneven. Uber holds a leading position across North America, Australia and select Latin American markets, yet it has limited presence in several high-growth regions, including the Middle East and large parts of Asia.
Delivery Hero, by comparison, has built its business around regional dominance rather than global breadth, generating €14.8 billion (~USD$16.9 billion) revenue in 2025. The Berlin-based company operates across 65 countries through a portfolio of locally established brands, including Foodpanda across large parts of Asia, Talabat in the Middle East and Glovo in parts of Europe and Latin America. Despite initially starting as a food delivery service, Delivery Hero has slowly cemented their presence in quick commerce, delivering groceries through a network of more than 800 DMarts (small warehouses) across 50 markets worldwide. This sector accounts for approximately 18% of Delivery Hero’s Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), indicating significant growth and contributing to the company’s overall strategy of expanding its delivery services beyond food.
Synergies
Together, the two companies present a notably complementary fit, and the resulting synergies fall into two broad categories: geographical and sectoral.
Uber’s global presence
Delivery Hero’s global operations
The overlap between the two businesses is limited. Uber’s strength is in North America, Western Europe and Australia, which stands in contrast to Delivery Hero’s dominance in the Middle East and Asia, meaning an acquisition would allow Uber to expand into these regions almost immediately, rather than investing years and significant capital into building market share from scratch. This complementary footprint would also create a more extensive delivery network globally, rivalling the scale of their competitors, such as DoorDash, who have been expanding internationally through its own acquisition of Deliveroo.
Furthermore, Delivery Hero’s rapidly scaling quick commerce presence aligns closely with Uber’s own ambitions in local commerce and would give the combined group a considerably stronger position in the grocery and convenience delivery sector. Adding this on top of Uber’s existing mobility, such an acquisition would allow the business to compete more effectively in an increasingly consolidated global market.
Why Uber Wants Delivery Hero?
Uber's decision to increase its stake in Delivery Hero comes as the global food delivery industry enters a new phase of consolidation. While the sector was once characterised by aggressive customer acquisition and market-share battles, investors are increasingly rewarding profitability, scale and operational efficiency. Acquiring greater exposure to Delivery Hero's operations would allow Uber to expand internationally without the significant costs and execution risks associated with building market share organically.
The transaction would also align with broader industry trends. Recent years have seen a wave of consolidation across the sector as companies seek greater scale and stronger unit economics. Larger platforms benefit from denser delivery networks, lower customer acquisition costs and increased bargaining power with restaurant partners. Uber's growing investment in Delivery Hero reflects this shift, as the company positions itself to compete in an increasingly concentrated market.
Beyond geographic expansion, Delivery Hero would strengthen Uber's ambitions in local commerce. The Berlin-based company has invested heavily in grocery delivery, quick commerce and last-mile logistics, areas that have become increasingly important as food delivery platforms expand beyond restaurant orders. Combining these capabilities with Uber's existing mobility and delivery ecosystem could create a more comprehensive platform serving a wider range of consumer needs.
Importantly, Uber's minority stake also provides strategic flexibility. The investment allows Uber to benefit from Delivery Hero's improving financial performance while keeping open the possibility of deeper strategic involvement in the future. As consolidation continues across the industry, Delivery Hero represents not only a valuable operating business but also a strategically important asset in the race to build the leading global local-commerce platform.
Why does Delivery Hero want to be bought?
Despite the hostile consolidation of the food industry market, Delivery Hero has reasons to view a potential acquisition by Uber as a strategic opportunity. Over the past decade, Delivery Hero has pursued aggressive international expansion and built up one of the largest food delivery networks globally, valued at over $18 billion. However, the company now operates within a highly competitive market characterised by growing regulatory pressures and thin margins, which has made sustainable profitability increasingly difficult to achieve independently.
One of the primary motivations for supporting an acquisition would be to gain a competitive edge within the increasingly hostile food market. With consolidation becoming a prominent trend across the food delivery industry, competitors continue to compete for market share, which has resulted in high customer demands and pricing pressures. Joining Uber would allow Delivery Hero to participate in this broader consolidation movement and potentially benefit from a stronger competitive position in key hostile markets, especially across Europe.
In addition, supporting an acquisition would provide an opportunity for Delivery Hero to create substantial synergies. A combined Uber and Delivery Hero entity could leverage shared logistical and technological networks that would help to improve efficiency and reduce costs across the board. This greater scalability would also strengthen their bargaining power with many restaurant partners and suppliers within hospitality, while simultaneously enabling them to better utilise their delivery and marketing resources. This would improve their profitability margins and generate more promising returns on investment, which would enable them to remain competitive in these hostile environments.
Furthermore, an acquisition could also appeal to Delivery Hero’s shareholders. Investors have increasingly shifted their focus from growth to profitability, and an acquisition from Uber would boost the company’s market valuation, allowing shareholders to realise immediate value. Uber’s larger financial resources and diversified business model would better equip both of them if they combined to navigate the rising labour costs and stricter regulations, particularly across Europe.
Thus, a takeover from Uber presents a very strategic opportunity for Delivery Hero, allowing them to secure long-term competitiveness, improve their operational efficiencies and maximise their shareholder value, within an increasingly consolidated industry.
