These are the world’s top food delivery companies – India’s Zomato and Swiggy have a long way to go as compared to their global counterparts like DoorDash or Meituan

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These are the world’s top food delivery companies – India’s Zomato and Swiggy have a long way to go as compared to their global counterparts like DoorDash or Meituan
  • Online food delivery picked up pace in the last year as the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to stay home.
  • DoorDash, fuelled by growth during the pandemic, went for a celebrated market listing in the US, while Chinese giant Meituan saw its profits jump by 374% in the third quarter of 2020.
  • Indian foodtech unicorn Zomato too claimed that its orders grew after an initial setback and brought it closer to profitability.
Across the world, online food delivery picked up pace in the last year as the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to stay home. After an initial resistance from people about letting delivery executives into their homes, food delivery firms have ramped up their offerings with contactless orders and more.

While Indian foodtech unicorns (startups with a valuation of over a billion dollars) like Zomato claimed that their orders grew after an initial setback and brought them closer to profitability, the global stage saw startups break even more barriers. DoorDash, fueled by growth during the pandemic, went for a celebrated market listing in the US, while Chinese giant Meituan saw its profits jump by 374% in the third quarter of 2020.

Here’s a look at some of the world’s top food delivery companies that have grown rapidly during the pandemic, according to a report by JM Financial.



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DoorDash

DoorDash
DoorDash/Facebook

The US-based food-tech giant, which started trading in US stock exchange Nasdaq in December last year, today has a market capitalisation of $47.6 billion. In the latest fourth quarter earnings report, DoorDash said that its sales jumped by 226%, with 273 million orders, as compared to 82 million orders in the same quarter the previous year. Its revenue in the fourth quarter stood at $970 million.

Uber Delivery

Uber Delivery
Uber.com

Uber Eats or Uber Delivery, the food delivery vertical of the ride-hailing giant saw its gross merchandising volume (GMV) grow by 130% on a year-on-year basis in the December 2020 quarter according to a report by investment bank JM Financial.

Uber is betting on its mobility and delivery verticals to grow off each other. “We believe our highly engaged consumer base on delivery will drive stronger mobility growth as cities reopen. On the flip side, we expect Mobility to become an increasingly powerful acquisition channel for our delivery business,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi during the company’s recent earnings calls.

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Grubhub

Grubhub
Grubhub/Facebook

The Nasdaq-listed Grubhub has a valuation of $5.5 billion. The company is much smaller when compared to its bigger US counterparts like DoorDash and Uber Delivery. In the latest fourth quarter, Grubhub saw its total orders touch 61 million, up 32% from its 46 million orders in the same quarter the previous year. Its revenue for the December quarter stood at $504 million.

Delivery Hero

Delivery Hero
DeliveryHero.com

The European food delivery giant saw its revenues touch $1.14 billion in the December quarter of 2020, a massive jump from $535 million in the same quarter the previous year.

“We had a strong final quarter in a year that has been exceptional in many ways. While we were able to nearly double our orders and revenues, I’m particularly proud of the role our service has played during these challenging times. Moving into 2021, I’m confident that we will continue our success story and execute on our ambition to deliver anything, locally,” said Niklas Östberg, chief executive and co-founder of Delivery Hero in a statement.

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Just Eat Takeaway

Just Eat Takeaway
Just Eat UK/Facebook

The Netherlands-based food delivery company saw its GMV touch $4.7 billion in the December 2020 quarter, up by 67% from the $2.6 billion in the same quarter the previous year. Its total orders for the quarter stood at 180 million.

Meituan

Meituan
Wikimedia Commons

Chinese food and grocery delivery giant has touched a valuation of $257.7 billion, according to the JM Financial report. As per the company’s third quarter earnings, its GMV beat all others across the world at $22.11 billion. “Grocery retail is an enormous market opportunity. We aim to “deliver everything to customers’ homes”, Meituan chief executive Wang Xing had told FT in November 2020.

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Zomato and Swiggy

Zomato and Swiggy
BCCL

India’s food-tech unicorns Zomato and Swiggy -- valued at $5.4 billion and $3.5 billion respectively -- have a long way to go to catch up to their food delivery counterparts across the world, in terms of valuation and revenue. Zomato is also heading for a public market debut in 2021. According to JM Financial report, for calendar year 2020, while Zomato’s food GMV stood at $1.6 billion, Swiggy was not so far behind at $1.5 billion.