Postmates gets a whopping $140 million in new funding
Postmates has raised $140 million in a new round of funding, a huge cash injection to a company that had been struggling to attract users and turn a profit.
Postmates offers delivery of just about anything a person could want, including restaurants that don't otherwise deliver. The company has a workforce of more than 40,000 people that transports goods on demand.
The new round was led by Founders Fund, which counts controversial investor Peter Thiel among its partners, the company said in a press release. The firm closed a $1.3 billion fund in March 2016.
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Founders Fund partner Brian Singerman will join the Postmates board, the delivery company also announced.
Getting stuff to your door has grown into a competitive industry, with everyone from Uber and Amazon to Google and, of course, Seamless betting big on it.
Postmates had been one of the more ambitious entries into that scene and grew quickly at first. That growth began to slow and reports of problems within the companies —and difficulties in finding new cash to fund its business — weighed on the company.
With this new funding round, Postmates wants to launch internationally and expand its delivery categories beyond food. That means adding more delivery options for alcohol and wellness products in particular.
The company sees potential for its service in international markets, even where UberEats has already aggressively expanded. The company is especially interested in cities in the Middle East and South America, Postmates vice president of growth and strategy Kristin Schaefer told Mashable.
"Our product is something that doesn't exist internationally. Even in markets where UberEats has already expanded, that's a limited selection of merchants partnered versus our platform, which also has the anywhere product," Schaefer said.
Postmates launched its in four new US cities last week — New Orleans, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa — and is planning a "fair number" of domestic launches in the next year. The company also plans to open new offices in New York and Seattle with this new round of funding, Schaefer said.
The funding round puts Postmates on track to reach profitability by late 2017, Schaefer said.
Early reports of a possible funding round pegged the valuation of Postmates at around $450 million.
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
