Waitr Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: WTRH) has entered into a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Retail Innovation Labs Inc., a leading point of sale, inventory and compliance software business serving cannabis dispensary retailers in North America.
Waitr’s acquisition of Retail Innovation Labs, which does business as Cova, represents the latest that the on-demand food ordering and delivery leader has made in the payments sector, bolstering the Waitr ordering technology platform with a software solution utilized by approximately 2,000 dispensaries in the U.S. and Canada. Waitr currently estimates the annualized gross merchandise value of cannabis transactions processed on the Cova platform at $2.3 billion based on recent performance.
“Combining our industry leading retail cannabis technology with Waitr’s on demand delivery logistics network and expertise in payments are a perfect match,” said Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova. “Waitr and Cova share the same values – we both put the retailer first and believe that nobody should get between them and their customers. This should further enable the dispensary retailers utilizing Cova software to grow and thrive.”
In addition to complementing Waitr’s recently-acquired Cape Payments POS solution, Waitr CEO and Chairman Carl Grimstad also sees the Cova acquisition as a means to offering cannabis retailers regulatory compliant payment solutions, and, as regulations evolve, the ability to offer delivery services as well. [Read More @ IPO Edge]
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