U.S.-based grocery delivery firm eyes Canada expansion

TORONTO — American grocery delivery service Instacart is buying Toronto-based technology company Unata as part of its ambitious expansion efforts across Canada.

Instacart chief business officer Nilam Ganenthiran said Tuesday that the acquisition will give the company access to Unata’s digital flyer, loyalty, e-catering and list-building capabilities — and fits into its lofty goal of providing services to 80 per cent of Canadian consumers in the next 18 months.

Instacart wouldn’t outline how exactly it planned to reach that goal, but when asked if expansion would rely solely on its existing partnership with Loblaws, it stressed that the company is “designed to partner with many retailers to give customers many options.”

“Unata is a pioneer in bringing all of that online, just like Instacart is a pioneer in picking and packing groceries,” Ganenthiran said. “We think this helps us bring to brick-and-mortar companies the chance to do more with us.”

Unata was founded in 2009 as a way to offer retailers a chance to digitize and introduce an online grocery platform. It has recently been toying with voiceactivation services that would allow customers to place orders through devices such as Google Home.

Instacart’s acquisition deal comes as the company is getting set to roll out Wednesday in Ontario in Ottawa, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and the Kitchener-Waterloo region through a Loblaw partnership.

The company first debuted in the Canadian market last December by working with the grocery store giant to offer deliveries within an hour to its customers in Toronto. Later this year, Instacart said it will launch with Loblaws in the Greater Vancouver Area.