Target to acquire technology and assets of same-day delivery startup Deliv, which has raised a total of $80M in venture capital according to Crunchbase
Target, which already owns on-demand delivery service Shipt, is in the process of acquiring technology assets from same-day delivery service Deliv
Context & Ripple Effects
Target is buying the technology and assets of Deliv, a crowdsourced same-day delivery platform that once claimed 4,000 retail partners including Best Buy, Macy's, and UPS across 33 markets. The deal follows Target's earlier $550M acquisition of Shipt in 2017, which it runs as an independent grocery-delivery unit — so this is a second bite at the last-mile apple, this time for the routing technology rather than the shopper network.
First-order effects
- Deliv's retail partners — brands like Best Buy and Macy's that relied on its platform after its expansion to 33 markets and 1,400 cities — need a new same-day delivery provider or must build in-house capability.
- Target gains Deliv's delivery technology to fold alongside Shipt, extending its owned last-mile stack beyond groceries.
Second-order effects
- UPS and Google, which backed Deliv's $40M Series C (and UPS led its earlier $28M Series B), see their logistics bets end in an asset sale to a retailer rather than an independent platform — a signal to other corporate investors in delivery startups about exit paths.
- Rival retailers that used Deliv now face a choice between Amazon-style self-built networks or leaning on competitor-owned platforms like Shipt, sharpening the divide between retailers who own their delivery infrastructure and those who rent it.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, last-mile delivery consolidates into retailer-owned platforms, squeezing out neutral intermediaries and pushing venture-backed logistics startups toward technology-asset exits rather than standalone scale.
- The buyer-of-capability model — Target paying for Shipt's network in 2017 and Deliv's tech in 2020 — points to delivery infrastructure becoming a core retail competency that gets acquired, not outsourced.
The trend: Major retailers are internalizing last-mile delivery through acquisitions of both networks and technology, converting third-party delivery startups into proprietary infrastructure.