Alcohol delivery startup Drizly Group announced Thursday it closed on a $50 million Series C round led by Avenir, bringing the Boston-based company’s total funding raised to nearly $120 million.
Founded in 2012, Drizly started off as the “Uber for alcohol,” simply delivering beer, wine and liquor to people’s doors. But in 2016, the company announced it was launching its own e-commerce platform, telling Built In at the time that it was “evolving from an on-demand startup to a tech startup and all that it has to offer.”
Now, Drizly operates in 235 markets across North America through its network of more than 3,000 independent and chain retail partners. Customers can use the site to shop a wide selection of alcoholic beverages, and compare things like prices, delivery times and overall ratings. The company claims that retailers can generate more than 30 percent of their sales through its platform.
“As the largest alcohol delivery marketplace in the U.S., Drizly is rapidly bringing the $120 billion off-premise alcohol market online,” Avenir co-founder Andrew Sugrue said in a statement. “With its laser focus on alcohol delivery, Drizly provides a best-in-class consumer experience with the widest selection, best prices and fastest delivery times, while enabling retailers, wholesalers and brands to thrive in the growing online market.”
This investment comes as Drizly marks more than 350 percent growth this year as compared to 2019, all while achieving sustained profitability. The number of retail partners using its platform has tripled since January and, as consumers continue to rely on online shopping more than ever amid the pandemic, Drizly anticipates 20 percent of off-premise alcohol purchases to take place online in the next five years.
The fresh funding will be used to support both Drizly and Lantern, Drizly’s independently operated cannabis e-commerce platform, which is operating in Massachusetts and Michigan. Together, the company says it hopes to dominate the online sales of regulated products.
Drizly is also hiring, with dozens of open positions across the company located in its offices in Boston, Austin, NYC, Denver and San Francisco, as well as remote.
