Uber buys the owner of Glovo for €13 billion: which means the largest deal in the delivery market for Ukraine

Uber is betting on the global delivery market

Over the past few years, Uber has been gradually transforming into not only a taxi service, but also one of the biggest players in the field of food, grocery and goods delivery. The purchase of Delivery Hero allows the company to significantly expand its presence at once in dozens of countries where Uber either did not operate at all or had a weak position.

After the deal is completed, the company will have access to the markets of 99 countries and will significantly increase the scale of its business. That's why Uber is willing to pay nearly double its average stock market valuation for Delivery Hero.

Will Glovo change in Ukraine?

Glovo's Ukrainian division is also part of Delivery Hero's structure, so after the deal is completed, it will actually come under Uber's control. At the same time, the process itself will continue for about a year — the parties are waiting for approval from the antimonopoly authorities of various countries and plan to complete the operation only in the second half of 2027.

Until then, Glovo will continue to operate under its own brand. Users, couriers and partners will not experience any changes in the operation of the service.

Why would Uber buy an already known brand?

Such deals rarely mean a quick rebrand. It is much more profitable to leave a brand that already has recognition and a formed audience than to build it from scratch.

That is why, after closing the deal, Glovo can continue to work under its own name, although strategic decisions, investments and development of the service will already be made by Uber.

Why this agreement is important

The global delivery market is increasingly concentrated around a few large international companies. Instead of developing new services, they buy already successful competitors, getting a ready-made client base, logistics and partner network.

For Ukraine, this means that one of the most popular delivery services will become part of Uber's global business. In the short term, this is unlikely to affect the prices or operation of the application, but in the future the company may integrate new technologies, expand the list of services or change the approach to service development.