Drizly

Drizly was founded by Nick Rellas, Justin Robinson, and Spencer Frazier[5] in 2012. The company launched its service in the greater Boston area in 2013, then expanded to New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.[6]

Drizly, which currently employs about 85 people in its Boston, New York, and Denver offices, is available in many U.S. Markets, and as of February 2016, has expanded to Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, Canada through a partnership with Liquor Stores N.A. (LSNA).[7][8][9]

As of January 2017, total venture capital funding for Drizly was about $18 million.[9] Series A/B investors include Polaris Partners, Suffolk Equity Partners, Cava Capital, Fairhaven Capital Partners, and First Beverage Group.[10] Angel investors include Walt Doyle, Lars Albright, Ty Danco, Fred Shilmover, Sean Grusd and Streetwise Media co-founder Chase Garbarino.[11]

In July 2018, Drizly entered into a partnership with Anheuser-Busch to keep beer stocked in offices across the country. The partnership allows exclusive handling delivery to Anheuser-Busch's Office Bud-e fridges, which use smart sensors and WiFi connection to automatically re-order beer when stocks run low.[12]

On February 2, 2021, Uber announced the company would purchase Drizly for $1.1 billion in cash and stock.[13]

Drizly partners with local retailers to bring their inventory to customers. The service is mainly provided through a smartphone app, available on iOS and Android platforms, apart from its website. Users place their order through the Drizly app or website. Drizly retail partners fulfill the order, process the transaction, and execute delivery. Delivery generally takes 30–60 minutes. There are separate apps for both customers and delivery drivers. Drizly has proprietary ID verification technology that it provides to its retail partners that allows drivers to scan IDs for more than a barcode to make sure the purchaser is over 21 years old in the US and of legal drinking age in Canada.[14]

Drizly does not take a cut of the orders, which is one reason why New York State Liquor Authority approved it to operate without a liquor license. Instead, Drizly charges the liquor and wine stores a monthly fee to use its order fulfillment software as well as its iPads and iPhones.[15] Drizly does not mark up the prices of alcoholic beverages themselves. Retailers on Drizly may have a minimum order or delivery fee, typically $5.[16]

In each of its cities, Drizly partners with local retailers. Its retail partners pay a licensing fee to be able to use its website and apps for iPhone and Android devices. Drizly is partnered with the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America.[4]

On July 28, 2020, Drizly announced it had been the victim of a data breach exposing sensitive information on approximately 2.5 million customer accounts, including dates of birth, email addresses, and bcrypt-hashed passwords, along with delivery addresses in rare cases.[17][18]

• Official website