Delivery Hero passes one billion quarterly orders and raises its 2026 guidance again
The Berlin-based delivery group grew faster in the third quarter, led by quick commerce, and lifted its full-year outlook for GMV, revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. Shareholders have until 5 November to accept Uber's takeover offer.
Delivery Hero, the Berlin-based local delivery platform, reported its first quarter with more than one billion orders and raised its full-year guidance across all four key metrics. According to the company's Q3 2026 trading update of 28 October, group gross merchandise value (GMV) rose 13.6% year on year on a like-for-like basis to €13.9 billion, up from 11.3% growth in the second quarter.
Revenue grew 22.0% like-for-like to €4.3 billion. The update comes while Uber's voluntary takeover offer of €41.50 per share is open for acceptance until 5 November, as Reuters reported.
The quarter in numbers
Orders grew 11.5% like-for-like to 1,001 million in the third quarter, the trading update says. Subscribers generated 51% of group GMV, 13 percentage points more than a year earlier, and customers who use more than one vertical on the platform accounted for 62% of GMV.
Measured in reported currency, group GMV rose from €12,179.4 million in the third quarter of 2025 to €13,934.6 million. Revenue rose from €3,530.1 million to €4,347.9 million. The company ended the quarter with €2.6 billion in cash, of which €439.7 million sits in a disposal group classified as held for sale.
"Our investments in the customer experience are accelerating our growth and boosting profitability. For the first time, we hit more than one billion orders in a quarter, and subscribers now generate more than half of our GMV," said Niklas Östberg, CEO and co-founder of Delivery Hero.
Quick commerce leads the growth
Quick commerce, the delivery of groceries and everyday items within minutes, remains the group's main growth engine. Its GMV grew 39% like-for-like in the quarter and made up 19% of group GMV, 4 percentage points more than a year ago. The Integrated Verticals segment, which mainly consists of the company's own small warehouses, called Dmarts, grew GMV by 40%. Delivery Hero says it has opened close to 90 Dmarts in 2026 and now runs around 900.
"When you have a decent-sized part of the business growing 40%, then that helps overall growth, and I think that's why we have seen part of the acceleration," Östberg told Reuters.
By region, Asia remained the largest segment with €5.45 billion of GMV, followed by MENA with €4.43 billion. Europe grew from €2.35 billion to €2.59 billion, which the company says was driven by key Glovo markets. The Americas were the fastest-growing region, and Saudi Arabia became the largest country by orders in MENA for the first time.
Guidance raised for the second time
Delivery Hero now expects 2026 GMV growth of 10% to 12% like-for-like, up from 9% to 11%, and revenue growth of 18% to 20%, up from 17% to 19%. Adjusted EBITDA is now guided at €980 million to €1,020 million, up from €960 million to €1,000 million, and free cash flow at more than €300 million, up from more than €250 million.
Reuters notes that this is the second time this year the company has raised its outlook, and that analysts polled by the company had on average expected 2026 GMV growth of 9.1%. CFO Marie-Anne Popp said the company will remain disciplined in bringing each market to a sustainable gross profit level and will keep investing in 2027 where returns are highest.
In September the company also repriced its $1,332 million Term Loan B, cutting the interest margin by 150 basis points, which it expects to save about $20 million a year in interest.
The Uber offer and Taiwan
The results land in the middle of Uber's takeover offer. According to Uber's offer announcement of 27 August, the bidder offers €41.50 in cash per share, a premium of about 108% to the unaffected closing price of 8 May 2026. The offer requires a minimum acceptance of 50% plus one share and regulatory clearances. Uber held about 24.77% of the voting shares before the offer and has an irrevocable undertaking from Prosus covering about 16.68%.
Delivery Hero says both companies will operate independently until closing, which is expected in the second half of 2027. Separately, Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission decided on 21 October not to approve the sale of foodpanda Taiwan to Grab. Delivery Hero says it has deal protections, including a break fee, and that the Taiwan business continues to operate as normal. Östberg told Reuters that the company is evaluating whether to keep operating there or look for another buyer, and that Taiwan is not a closing condition for the Uber deal.
What it means for European founders and investors
For founders in quick commerce and delivery, the numbers show that dense local warehouse networks and subscriptions can lift growth at scale, even in a mature category. They also show how much of the growth now comes from outside Europe, which matters for anyone benchmarking European delivery startups against the group.
For investors, the update adds a fresh set of operating data to a large takeover by a US buyer of a Berlin-founded tech company. Whether the Uber offer reaches its threshold will be known after the acceptance period ends on 5 November. Read our other quarterly reports, such as Adyen's Q3 results, and more European business news on our Europe page, including Mutares' offer for the last-mile delivery firm Stuart.
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