Waitr, an on-demand food delivery startup focused on the Southeastern market, has been acquired in one of the biggest technology deals to come out of Louisiana. Landcadia Holdings will purchase Waitr for $308 million and bring the formerly-private company public to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Waitr was founded in 2013 and is based in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Though the food delivery market is a crowded one, by focusing on smaller, less-saturated cities in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and across the Southeast, the company grew quickly, raising about $25 million prior to the merger to help fuel expansion. Today they are in over 200 cities and count more than 5,000 restaurant partners, each of whom pays the startup to have a presence on the app.