Emirates: Delivery Hero is buying Dubai-based online grocery service InstaShop after the German company’s sales doubled in the first half of the year.

The Berlin-based firm said it acquired all of the outstanding shares of InstaShop based on a valuation of $360 million with the initial purchase price amounting to $270 million.

Launched in 2015, Instashop operates in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt and Lebanon.

“As a leading player in the grocery segment, InstaShop has built a service customers love, and their expertise is a great addition to our quick commerce expansion,” said Niklas Östberg, CEO and Co-Founder of Delivery Hero.

The Dubai delivery firm has seen its business balloon during lockdown as more people were forced to order in.

It works by connecting customers with vendors and facilitates the purchase, while the shops take care of the logistics.

InstaShop will continue to operate as an independent brand under the current leadership, Delivery Hero said in a statement.

Despite an initial negative impact from COVID-19, Delivery Hero said its segment revenues almost doubled to $1.33 billion in the first half of 2020.

It raised its guidance for growth in the second half of the year which means it expects total segment revenues of between $3.07 billion and $3.3 billion for the full year 2020, up from $2.83 billion to $3.07 billion before.

Founded five years ago by Ioanna Angelidaki and John Tsioris, InstaShop has grown to service more than 500,000 active users across five countries in the region.