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Drizly raises $50m to expand booze delivery

E-commerce alcohol delivery service Drizly announced it closed a $50 million funding round led by the investment firm Avenir with participation from Tiger Global and other existing investors. This additional funding brings the company’s total fundraising amount to $119.6 million.

This influx in funds coincides with the alcohol delivery giant’s announcement that its platform has grown 350% compared to 2019 and that it has achieved this astronomical growth while “achieving sustained profitability.” Investors like the idea of a company that is profitable, especially one as young as Drizly and that that operates in an emerging segment. This may explain why the company’s early investors put more money into the company in this funding round.

Drizly is likely to continue on its growth trajectory thanks in large part to the duration of the pandemic that has provided momentum to alcohol e-commerce. The company said in a statement that it expects 20 percent of off-premise alcohol purchases to be transacted online within the next five years. That is an enormous leap from the 2% of transactions that were logged in the first months of 2020.

Should this prediction hold true, then Drizly is in good stead to pick up market share. Avenir, pinpointed the off-premise online alcohol market at $120 billion this year.

While the alcohol segment has been undoubtedly altered by the pandemic as consumers found the appeal of ordering online and having products delivered directly to their front door, it remains to be seen how this trend shapes up long term.

Drizly’s approach that uses software to corrals retailers and liquor store offerings all into one place has drawn new subscribers looking for an easy-to-use marketplace from the comfort of their own homes was already growing pre-pandemic. Its brand notoriety has the ability to serve the online retailer well as the popularity of this form of shopping grows and could result in Drizly becoming the market leader in alcohol e-commerce delivery.

This investment will go toward supporting both Drizly and Lantern, an independently operated company within Drizly Group that is bringing a similar online marketplace and delivery concept to the cannabis segment.