logo
Uber Eats comes to Turkey via $700M Trendyol Go acquisition

Uber Eats comes to Turkey via $700M Trendyol Go acquisition

TechCrunch06-05-2025

Uber is expanding its presence in Turkey with its latest acquisition.
The ride-hail and delivery giant has acquired an 85% controlling stake in Trendyol Go, the online meal and grocery delivery business based in Istanbul, for about $700 million in cash. The deal gives Uber instant market share for Uber Eats in the country, where Uber currently only operates a ride-hail service.
Uber's acquisition announcement comes a day before the company is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings. And with consumer spending projected to fall in 2025 due to President Trump's tariffs, investors will want reassurance that Uber is still poised for growth, even as the company recently pulled out of its $950 million bid for Delivery Hero's Foodpanda business in Taiwan.
Uber has been laying the groundwork for expansion in other arenas, too. It seems like every few weeks, Uber announces a new autonomous vehicle partnership across its ride-hail, delivery, and freight verticals.
Trendyol Go is the food delivery arm of parent company Trendyol Group, a fashion and retail e-commerce platform, which is majority-owned by Alibaba. The company said in a filing that it delivered more than 200 million orders in 2024, generating $2 billion in gross bookings, which was up 50% from the previous year. There are more than 90,000 restaurants and 19,000 couriers on its marketplace.
The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2025. When it does, users will be able to keep using the Trendyol Go app, and Uber will 'introduce key capabilities over the coming years from Uber Eats,' the company said.
TechCrunch has asked Uber for more information.
Techcrunch event
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last.
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last.
Berkeley, CA
|
BOOK NOW
Uber's latest acquisition comes as it struggles for market share back home in the U.S. due to competition from DoorDash. In February, Uber filed suit against DoorDash, alleging anticompetitive behavior. DoorDash has urged the courts to dismiss the case.
Earlier today, DoorDash announced two major acquisitions to expand its presence in Europe: The U.K.'s Deliveroo for $3.86 billion and SevenRooms for $1.2 billion.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

NYC taxi lender fined $4M over 'fake news' plants
NYC taxi lender fined $4M over 'fake news' plants

New York Post

time27 minutes ago

  • New York Post

NYC taxi lender fined $4M over 'fake news' plants

A New York financier and his publicly traded firm that bankrolled loans to taxi drivers were fined $4 million for planting fake news articles online to boost the company's stock price. Medallion Financial Corp. — which got hit a decade ago as ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft began to tank the value of taxi medallions — will have to pay $3 million as part of a settlement after a ruling by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the US Southern District of New York. Medallion president Andrew Murstein — who made headlines when he hired Nicki Minaj to perform at his son's bar mitzvah in 2015 — must fork out over $1 million in a ruling on a case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a May 29 securities filing. 5 Medallion president Andrew Murstein, seen here at a Yankees game, has been hit with a $1 million fine. Anthony J. Causi The SEC complaint, brought in December 2021 under the agency's President Biden-appointed chair Gary Gensler, contained 'more than sufficient allegations to support the claim that Murstein and Medallion Financial misled investors by withholding information material to Medallion Bank's fair value,' Kaplan wrote in a separate filing. The Post previously reported on Murstein's brazen scheme to secretly pay for 'fake news' stories as the rise of Uber and Lyft caused investors to sour on taxi-related stocks, leaving Medallion's share price floundering. Judge Kaplan ruled that securities laws were broken when the top executive hired media strategists to place at least 50 stories from 2014 to 2017 on sites such as HuffPost and Crain's New York Business. The taxi medallion lender also failed to disclose that the authors of the bogus blogs were being paid, and that many of the stories had been personally tweaked and edited by Murstein. Instead, the posts were written in a way to make it look as if they had been penned by actual investors who were bullish on Medallion stock. 5 Prices for a prized medallion soared to as much as $1 million under Mayor Michael Bloomberg before crashing when ride-sharing apps such as Uber and Lyft cornered the market. NY Post 'Neither Medallion Financial nor Murstein ever disclosed to investors Murstein's conduct in recruiting, paying, and instructing his touters,' Kaplan wrote.. 'Murstein acted knowingly or recklessly in hiring and keeping touters on the Medallion Financial payroll.' The judge found he had gone 'opinion-shopping' when one valuation firm refused to ignore his deteriorating medallion portfolio and accept his inflated view of the company's actual worth of $193 million. It resulted in the value of Medallion's banking unit jumping to $280 million at the end of 2016, from $166 million just two quarters earlier, even as the price of medallions slumped. California PR agent Lawrence Meyers, one of the main communications specialists hired by Murstein, must also pay a $100,000 fine, according to SEC filings. As part of the settlement deal, all defendants neither admit nor deny the allegations, the ruling said. 'Our agreement with the SEC puts this nearly decade-old matter behind us and enables us to apply our full focus to continuing to grow the company,' a Medallion spokesperson told The Post on Wednesday. 'It removes the distraction, cost, and uncertainty of continued litigation and is in the best interest of the Company and our shareholders.' 5 Murstein splashed the cash on getting Nicki Minaj to perform at his son's bar mitzvah in 2015. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP News of the settlement was first reported by American Banker on Tuesday. The brash boss and his father, Leon, raked in more than $42 million from 2002 to 2014, according to the New York Times. Aside from spending lavishly on the 'WAP' singer, Medallion Financial bought up professional lacrosse and NASCAR teams, the paper reported. 'One wonders if the SEC is going easy on them a bit, due to the change in administration or lack of staff,' a source close to the situation told The Post. 'That should give investors pause for thought if boards and executives can get away with such behavior.' President Trump-nominated SEC Chair Paul Atkins replaced Gensler. Rebecca Fike, a partner at Vinson & Elkins and a former SEC enforcement attorney, added that it shows 'a desire to wrap up actions that were initiated under the previous administration.' 'I expect the Atkins SEC to favor quicker resolutions and accept much lower civil penalties, particularly where the staff cannot show a corporate benefit from the fraudulent acts,' she told The Post. 5 Medallion made a mint offering loans to low-income drivers who wanted to get a permit to drive NYC's iconic yellow cabs. Christopher Sadowski The company's stock closed Wednesday at $9.50. By law, there are only 13,587 taxi medallions in New York City, and each yellow cab must have a medallion linked to it. Prices for a prized medallion soared to as much as $1 million under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But they plunged under tougher competition from the ride-sharing apps, leaving the drivers drowning in debt and piling the pressure on Medallion's profit margins. Medallion went public in 1996. The company had been originally set up by Murstein's taxi-driving father, a Polish immigrant, who started trading some of the cab medallions. 5 The case against Medallion was first brought in December 2021 under Gary Gensler, who was Joe Biden's pick to be chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. REUTERS A driver would put up roughly a third of the purchase price when buying the permit, with Medallion financing the rest with interest over a fixed period of time. After years of protests from drivers amid the rise of digital rivals, former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a deal in November 2021 to cap medallion loans at $170,000 and interest repayments at 5%. Medallion has since tried to shift to more traditional consumer and commercial banking over the past few years.

You Can Order Helicopters and Boats on Uber at This Iconic Italian Destination
You Can Order Helicopters and Boats on Uber at This Iconic Italian Destination

Travel + Leisure

time5 hours ago

  • Travel + Leisure

You Can Order Helicopters and Boats on Uber at This Iconic Italian Destination

Traveling up and down Italy's gorgeous Amalfi Coast is about to get a little more streamlined this summer. Uber announced that it is launching Uber Copter and Uber Boat in Sorrento, Italy, allowing visitors to use the app to travel by air, sea, or land throughout Southern Italy this summer. Starting June 25, reservations for the new services will be available to book through the Uber app within Italy. Uber will also expand its ground transportation options by launching Uber Reserve on the Amalfi Coast, which gives riders the ability to book rides in advance and beat the busy crowds at Salerno Airport. Uber Copter and Uber Boat will be limited to availability on summer weekends. Departing from an exclusive helipad in Sorrento, Uber Copter gives travelers the option to pre-book private, round-trip journeys to Capri by helicopter. The service allows groups of up to six people to travel in a dual-pilot helicopter for €250 (about $290) per person and includes door-to-door transportation to and from the helicopter. For travelers eager to head out to sea on the Amalfi Coast, Uber Boat allows users to book a private four-hour charter cruise for up to 12 people, including a personal skipper, snacks, and beverages. The boat will set sail from Sorrento Marina. 'At Uber, we strive to help our customers go anywhere, wherever they are travelling." Anabel Diaz, Uber's vice president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa mobility, said in a statement shared with Travel + Leisure . "Italy is fast becoming one of our most popular tourist destinations, with travelers turning to the Uber app to help make their holiday travel stress-free. This summer, we're adding a series of unforgettable experiences that will make travelling by land, sea or air more magical than ever before.' Passengers on the Uber Boat off the Amalfi Coast. According to Uber, more than 400,000 people used Uber in Italy last summer, and 60,000 people opened the app in the Amalfi Coast in just the last 12 months. Both Uber Copter and Uber Boat must be booked at least 48 hours in advance through Uber Reserve, and the seasonal offerings will run every Saturday and Sunday from July 26 to Aug. 24. The availability of the services will be subject to weather conditions. The Amalfi Coast is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and has become more and more popular as a summer destination over the years, but despite the crowds, it is still an enjoyable and stunning place to visit in Italy.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store