Who is Wonder, the newcomer that got a bargain when it bought Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway for ‘only’ 650 million dollars? Behind the American start-up are some big names with even bigger ambitions…
Not your average start-up
To say that Just Eat Takeaway made a loss on Grubhub is an understatement. The Dutch platform bought the American delivery service in 2021, back in the days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when confined consumers were flocking to food delivery. Jitse Groen’s company paid 7.3 billion dollars for the platform, convinced that it would pre-empt a merger with Uber.
Less than three years later, Just Eat Takeaway is happy to be rid of Grubhub for less than a tenth of the price. The delivery market has cooled and competition is fierce. According to Bloomberg, Grubhub has just 8 % of the market share in the United States, while DoorDash dominates the market with 67 %. Uber Eats is the runner-up with 23%.
So why is Wonder Group suddenly buying Grubhub? And how does the young company hope to be more successful?
