Uber in acquisition talks for Turkish food delivery platform Trendyol Go

SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES: Uber Technologies Inc. is in talks to acquire Turkish food delivery platform Trendyol Go.

Terms of transaction couldn’t immediately be learned. A final agreement hasn’t been reached and the talks could still end without one.

Trendyol Go is a food and grocery delivery platform run by Trendyol Group, one of Turkey’s largest e-commerce platforms, which encompasses retail, logistics and fintech. Trendyol Group is majority-owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Limited.

Uber has expanded its food delivery business partly through acquisitions. The San Francisco-based company completed the acquisition of Postmates in 2020 and alcohol-delivery app Drizly the following year.

Taiwan blocks Uber’s $950 million Foodpanda deal, CNA reports

Last month, Uber terminated its agreement to buy Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan after the deal failed to secure approval from antitrust regulators. Delivery Hero said the Uber termination fee for that deal was estimated to be $250 million, as reported by Bloomberg.

Uber had a rough start in Turkey after a court in Istanbul banned its ride-share operations on the grounds of unfair competition in 2019. The ban created a surge in illegal cabs and authorities soon reversed course, and Uber re-entered the market in 2021 by allowing traditional taxicabs on its app.