Your favorite mobility and delivery podcast is back, but with a whole new twist! Jonah Bliss and Greg Lindsay have teamed up with Zag Daily to bring you Zag Talk, bringing you fresh news, in-depth interviews and witty analysis every two weeks.
To kick things off, we’re chatting with Zach Rash, CEO & Co-Founder of Coco Robotics. Coco and DoorDash just announced a huge new partnership (shared live from the stage at Curbivore 2025.) Jonah Bliss caught up with Zach beforehand, to get his founding story, why he’s set out to solve urban robotics, the company’s latest hardware developments and the economics of its business model.
HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
DoorDash doubles down: Amid a solid Q1 earnings update, 3PD heavyweight DoorDash is buying into more growth both domestically and abroad. Overseas, it’s agreed to buy European-focused delivery app Deliveroo for $3.9 billion, while in the U.S. it’s swallowing up reservation and hospitality platform SevenRooms for $1.2B. The market doesn’t loooove the deal, with analysts worried that the new add-ons have slimmer margins and slower growth rates.
Uber Eats hungers for Turkey: Uber had a good Q1 as well, with mobility bookings up 20% YoY and delivery rising 18%; free cash flow hit a healthy $2.3 billion. The company’s also looking to keep fighting for market share in Europe (or is it Asia?) with the $700M acquisition of Turkish food deliverer Trendyol Go. The Alibaba-backed 3PD did $2B+ in gross bookings last year.
Uber’s adding more AV partners too: Uber’s beefing up more than its delivery biz; it keeps adding on new robotaxi partners as well. In the past week or so, the company’s added on May Mobility, Momenta, Pony.ai and has expanded its partnership with WeRide. Richard Willder, Uber’s Global Head of Autonomous Policy, shared the reasoning behind its multi-pronged strategy at Curbivore 2025.
Grubhub gets the goods too! All three of America’s big 3PDs are in the news this week, with Grubhub parent co Wonder hauling in a fresh $600 million in funding. NEA, Accel, GV, Forerunner Ventures and Amex Ventures got in on the round, which puts the “super app for mealtime” at a $7 billion+ valuation. CEO Marc Lore shares that his Northeast-focused conglomerate hopes to hit 90+ brick and mortar locations by year’s end.
Electri-citi? NYC’s Citi Bike program is expanding its electric bicycle fleet. Operator Lyft is adding in 13 new charging hubs across Manhattan and Brooklyn, improving reliability and access for the fleet of ~15k e-bikes. Electrified rides make up 70% of all Citi Bike rides, even though only 43% of the fleet has been upgraded to electric.
Make way for more gig work… As the economy continues to wobble, more Americans are looking to gig work (aka doing deliveries and ridehailing.) 75% of the 68% of Americans that live paycheck-to-paycheck have either begun taking on side work or are increase their frequency if they already did gig-work on the side.
All eyes on LA! As President Trump’s inane new tariffs go into effect, trade watchers are closely monitoring the situation at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Asia’s primary gateway to America. China-to-U.S. TEUs have fallen about 45% in recent weeks.
Carsharing ain’t easy… Carsharing as a property amenity startup Envoy Electric is being spun out of publicly listed EV charging group Blink, about two years after it was acquired for $34M. Envoy is opting for a direct listing instead of an IPO. Per its S1, last year the company lost over $14 million on under $4M in revenue; oof!
Swap it like its hot: U Power Limited and Sumitomo Mitsui launched a battery-swapping station for taxis in Phuket, Thailand’s popular tourism region. Swapping in a fully charged battery only takes three minutes, maximizing uptime; another deployment went live in Portugal last month.
A few good links: Cool job alert: Group Product Manager, Autonomous Vehicle Supply Management at Uber. OpenAI snags Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. JetBlue sells off its corporate venture capital biz. While American transit agencies face looming budget shortfalls, Vancouver approves its biggest transit service expansion in years. OMF seeks feedback on CDS 1.1. DOT seeks to cut funding from transportation programs engaging in diversity, equity and inclusion practices. NYPD kills off popular NYC outdoor dining setup.
Until next week!
- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew
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