Uber takes stake in online grocery group Cornershop

Uber said Friday it agreed to take a majority stake in Cornershop, an online grocery provider in Chile, Mexico, and which recently expanded to Peru and Canada. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, comes with Uber seeking to expand further beyond ridesharing and become a diversified logistics and transport operation.

"Whether it's getting a ride, ordering food from your favourite restaurant, or soon, getting groceries delivered, we want Uber to be the operating system for your everyday life," said Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi. "We're excited to partner with the team at Cornershop to scale their vision, and look forward to working with them to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform."

The San Francisco-based ride-sharing giant already has a restaurant delivery service called Uber Eats and has moved into electric bikes and scooters, trucking, with a long-term project on flying taxis. Oskar Hjertonsson, founder and CEO of Cornershop, said the partnership will help the group expand beyond Latin America.

"Uber is the perfect partner as we embark on our quest to bring our unique flavour of on-demand groceries from incredible retail partners to many more countries around the world," he said. The companies said Cornershop will continue to operate under its current leadership, with the investment expected to close in early 2020.

Earlier this year, Mexican authorities blocked US retail giant Walmart from acquiring Cornershop. 

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