LOS ANGELES - Uber Technologies Inc’s restaurant delivery business has grown revenue to $1.5 billion in just three years, the company disclosed in its IPO filing on Thursday, dwarfing the revenue of its profitable, and already public, rival Grubhub Inc.
Uber Eats, and its rivals DoorDash and Postmates - who are also candidates for initial public offerings - are offering discounts and incentives to diners and restaurants in a race to grab the biggest piece of online restaurant delivery sales that investment firm William Blair & Co expects to grow to $62 billion in 2022 from around $25 billion today.
Research firm Edison Trends said Uber Eats does more deliveries than its U.S. rivals, including Grubhub, but that the dollar value of each transaction is the lowest of the bunch at $26.20. The Chicago-based company merged with rival Seamless before its April 2014 IPO and since has made more than a half-dozen other purchases, including Yelp Inc’s Eat24, campus delivery firm Tapingo Ltd and LevelUP, which manages digital ordering, payments and loyalty programs.