Uber Eyes Supermarket Delivery In Europe

Uber Eyeing Supermarket Delivery In Europe

Uber is talking to European supermarkets about partnering up for a potential grocery delivery service to compete with rivals like Deliveroo and Amazon, according to a report by Bloomberg

The company was in talks with the second largest grocery chain in the U.K., Sainsbury’s, which announced a recent partnership with Deliveroo this month to deliver hot pizza to homes in four U.K. cities. 

“We’re currently speaking with a number of the major supermarkets around Europe,” an Uber spokesman said.

Amazon recently led a $575 million investment round in Deliveroo, which the company said it was going to use to expand and grow past rivals like Uber. 

“We talk to many companies about potential partnerships that could help our customers access convenient and affordable products,” a Sainsbury’s spokesman said. 

Shares in online grocer Ocado Group dipped on the news and then bounced back 2.3 percent higher in London. Uber shares went up 1.5 percent and Sainsbury’s dipped 0.6 percent. Ocado partnered this year with Marks & Spencer Group on grocery delivery, and antitrust regulators in the U.K. started investigating the Amazon Deliveroo deal.

In other grocery delivery news, Sam’s Club recently announced that some of its shoppers using Instacart can now receive same-day alcohol delivery.

The service is now available in more than 200 locations in select markets, with plans to expand to additional locations in the coming months. The delivery options allow customers to get any of the hundreds of Sam’s Club’s alcohol options — including Member’s Mark Sangria, Member’s Mark Asolo-Prosecco and Member’s Mark Moscato D’Asti, as well as member favorites like Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, Modelo Especial and Tito’s Handmade Vodka — in as fast as one hour.

Sam’s Club is focused on offering quality products, unexpected finds and better customer experiences,” said Racquel Harris, the company’s vice president, adult beverage, in a press release. “Now you can select the perfect bottle of wine to complement your dinner or stock up on your favorite beer or spirits for the big game with the convenience of delivery.”


Upwork: Demand for AI Talent Drove Record Revenue in 2024

Work marketplace Upwork earned record revenue in 2024 and attributed its gains in part to artificial intelligence (AI).

In an earnings release and other materials issued Wednesday (Feb. 12), the company highlighted AI innovations it added to its marketplace platform and AI talent the platform connects with its clients.

“We’ve rapidly unlocked demand for AI-related work on our platform,” Upwork President and CEO Hayden Brown said in prepared remarks for the company’s quarterly earnings call.

Upwork reported full-year revenue of $769.3 million, which marked a 12% year-over-year gain and an all-time high, according to the earnings release.

The company achieved this gain during a year in which the broader staffing industry saw a 9% decline in revenue, Brown said in her prepared remarks.

During the year, the gross services volume (GSV) from AI-related work grew 60% and the number of clients engaging in AI-related projects grew 42%.

In addition, in 2024, the hourly earnings of freelancers engaged in AI-related work were 44% higher than those of other freelancers, per the release.

AI has been the fastest growing major category on the Upwork platform for several quarters, with clients seeking talent in prompt engineering, AI integration, generative AI modeling, and data labeling and annotation, according to an investor presentation released Wednesday.

During the Q&A portion of the earnings call, Brown said Upwork has grown and “shape-shifted” to meet the emerging demand for AI talent just as it did in the past, when there was newly created demand for social media managers and mobile developers.

“We are also leveraging AI on our platform to underpin the evolution of predictive and delightful conversational customer experiences,” Brown said in her prepared remarks.

Upwork enhanced its platform in April by adding an AI assistant called Uma that performs tasks like creating tailored proposal drafts for freelancers, evaluating candidates for clients, and scoping projects and designing optimal teams of experts for larger clients, according to the earnings release and the presentation.

The firm also acquired AI-native search-as-a-service company Objective, a move it said allowed Upwork to enhance the search and match performance of its platform, strengthen the company’s AI and machine learning teams, and continue to develop new capabilities for Uma.

“As the AI work tide builds, organizations of all sizes are seeking out more flexible talent models that match their needs for new and emerging skills, with partners who integrate cutting edge AI technology and valued human workers seamlessly and at scale to rapidly deliver on their priorities,” Brown said in her remarks.

“At the same time, professionals across geographies, specialties and industries want digitally powered ways of working that give them easy access to more autonomy, flexibility and earning power.”