Following a recent leadership change, Buggy is joining the ranks of competitors looking to offer faster services while maintaining that existing business, and the Ninja acquisition is part of that, chief executive officer Nicole Verkindt said in an interview. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“It’s still really early days in Canada,” said Ms. Verkindt. “I think we’re going to see more consolidation of the smaller players, because it is a capital-intensive endeavour.” But there is still significant uncertainty about how profitable rapid-delivery services can become, since many offer zero or extremely low delivery fees. Buggy plans to charge a $2.99 delivery fee for its service. As they have expanded quickly, similar companies in the U.S. have gone out of business, while Gopuff and Getir both recently laid off hundreds of workers.