Just-Eat Digs in to Corporate Market with Urbanbite Acquisition

World’s largest online takeaway service consolidates foothold in UK with purchase

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Just-Eat, the world’s largest online takeaway service, has completed its acquisition of Urbanbite, a leading London online food delivery provider. The deal consolidates Just-Eat’s position as the UK’s leading online service for takeaway restaurants and gives it access to Urbanbite’s industry leading corporate business.

“We are delighted to be joining forces with a major and influential player like as Just-Eat. This, I believe, will give the business the boost and credibility it needs to make significant inroads into the lucrative corporate market.”

The deal, which sees Just-Eat take a 100 per cent stake in Urbanbite, will have founder Ben Carmona remain with the company in a key leadership role. Urbanbite, founded in 2000, operates a corporate account scheme whereby employees of major organisations can order dinner online at the company’s expense subject to a number of proprietary rules and policies. With 60 per cent of Urbanbite’s 15,000 orders a month coming from corporate customers, the acquisition places Just-Eat firmly at the forefront of this burgeoning market.

Carmona said “We are delighted to be joining forces with a major and influential player like as Just-Eat. This, I believe, will give the business the boost and credibility it needs to make significant inroads into the lucrative corporate market.”

David Buttress, Managing Director for UK for Just-Eat, said “With people working longer hours, more companies are offering food deliveries for their employees. The corporate market is one of the fastest growing sectors in the industry, and this acquisition not only further consolidates our position as the UK’s leading online takeaway provider, but helps us establish a strong grasp on the key London and corporate markets. As an industry leader we are always looking for opportunities to grow and develop as a business, and with Urbanbite becoming part of the Just-Eat family we will have access to the knowledge Ben and his team have built up over the last few years.”

The Urbanbite deal is the third acquisition Just-Eat have made in 2011, following a move into Brazil with RestauranteWeb and the purchase of Hungry Zone in India earlier in the year. This rapid growth has been supported by a $48 million round of VC funding in March, and the appointment of key personnel, including Ask.com’s Chief Product Officer Daniel Read to the same role at Just-Eat.

Ends

About the Just-Eat Group

Just-Eat, launched in Denmark in 2001, is based in London and is now active in 16 countries around the globe. Just-Eat delivers over 100,000 meals a day and has received more than 30m orders since the site launched. There are currently over 20,000 takeaway restaurants signed up to Just-Eat’s site which uses proprietary technology to offer a seamless on-line ordering service. Just-Eat is currently generating over $500m in revenue per year for the restaurant industry and was listed in the TechCrunch Europe Top 100 Index 2010. Just-Eat was also recently ranked number 28 in the Sunday TimesTech Track 100.

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