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Showing its ambition to expand well beyond the core online
taxi-hailing business, Uber announced on Tuesday the launch
later this week of its UberEats meal delivery app service in
Amsterdam, just as Takeaway.com [IPO-TAAY.AS], the local market
leader in the Netherlands, is seeking a share listing.
UberEats is also opening in Dubai and Johannesburg on Thursday.
It also plans to expand in three as-yet-undisclosed cities in
the Americas and Asia this week, the company said.
In addition, the company told reporters in Amsterdam that it
will open the service in Brussels and Stockholm and a "few more"
undisclosed cities before the end of the year.
To date UberEats has launched in 33 cities in six countries, 27
of which are in the United States, where it first began testing
its food deliveries app two years ago in Los Angeles. Its first
international move was to Paris a year ago.
But according to job listings on Uber and other recruiting
sites, UberEats is hiring everyone from general managers to bike
couriers, salespeople and marketing managers for launches in 24
countries.
Longer-term, the expansion would cover 16 cities in 12 European
countries ranging from Moscow to Madrid to Manchester, 11 new
cities in nine Asian countries - including Hong Kong, Jakarta
and Tokyo, as well as Cape Town.
"We have got an aggressive expansion roadmap and one we are
confident will bring the value of this business to new cities
and countries this year," Jambu Palaniappan, recently named head
of UberEats for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told Reuters in
a recent interview. He did not name specific targets.
(Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam and Byron
Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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