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Uber for business expands to include Eats

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uber ceo dara khosrowshahi
Uber
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Matt
Winkelmeyer/Getty Images



  • Uber for Business is
    expanding to include Uber Eats, the company announced
    Thursday, 
  • Workers whose companies use the Uber for Business
    platform for rides, can now expense meals as
    well. 
  • The combined platform could be key to Uber’s eventual
    IPO, as it seeks to lock in regular and diverse revenue
    streams. 

Uber Eats is growing like crazy.

Because the ride-hailing giant noticed its food delivery platform
was so popular among customers who were expensing meals to their
employer, the program is being added to the already up-and
running Uber for Business program, meaning customers can now
directly expense both food and Uber trips, the company announced
Thursday.

“It’s a very obvious extension for Eats and Uber for Business,”
Ronnie Gurion, the general manager of Uber for Business, said in
an interview with Business Insider. In the less than 3 years
since Uber Eats launched, customers are expensing hundreds of
thousands of meals annually, according to internal data from
payroll provider SAP Concur, with a year-over-year increase of
more than seven-fold.

The program integrates directly with Uber for Business’
dashboard, which allows managers and HR employees insight into
employee spending with Uber — everything from centralized
billing, to expense codes, time limitations, and more. When an
employee orders food outside the allotted time — say, before
a company allows workers to order dinner on a late shift — the
app will warn the customer.


Uber Eats for Business
A
promo photo from Uber shows both Eats and rides in the dashboard
for employers.

Uber

This could also help avoid scandals like that of Wells Fargo
earlier this year, in which the bank found employees were grossly
abusing its meal expense policies by falsifying receipts, which
led to terminations and bonus reductions. 

And while Uber has yet to disclose any revenue or profit
breakdown from either of the units, they could be key players as
the company races towards an initial public offering, which could
come as soon as next year. Locking in enterprise clients to its
internal Uber for Business dashboard ensures a consistent revenue
stream, with Eats offering diversity to the ride-hailing
foundation, could be key.


Read more: 
Uber
raised $2 billion in its first-ever bond-offering — and the
entire deal was done in near secrecy

Jackie Kelley, Americas IPO Markets Leader for the consulting
firm EY, says this is key for many technology companies as they
transition from private to public markets.

“It’s important that technology companies have scalable
platforms,” she told Business Insider in an interview. “In
certain sectors of technology, one revenue source may not be
enough diversity. A big focus for companies today is recurring
revenue, not just a one-hit wonder.”

The program could extend beyond rides and meals, too, the Uber
executives seemed to hint.

“We’re still very early in this journey,” Stephen Chau, the head
of product for Uber Eats, said in the interview, with Gurion
adding that this is a “starting point for how we can expand
beyond the core rides business.”

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