Benzinga | Dec 17, 2021 08:12AM EST

Waitr Enters Into Letter Of Intent To Acquire A Dispensary Compliance POS Company For $90M

Waitr Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:WTRH) ("Waitr" or the "Company"), a leader in on-demand food ordering and delivery, today announced the Company has entered into a non-binding letter of intent ("LOI") to acquire Retail Innovation Labs Inc. dba Cova ("Cova"), a leading point of sale ("POS"), inventory and compliance software business serving cannabis dispensary retailers in North America.

"We believe that the Cova POS solution will be symbiotic with our recently acquired Cape Payments business," said Carl Grimstad, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Waitr, "as we estimate annualized gross merchandise value of the cannabis transactions processed on the Cova platform of approximately $2.3 billion, based on recent performance." "Cova's software solution is currently utilized by approximately 2,000 dispensaries in Canada and the United States, and will provide an opportunity to offer these retailers regulatory compliant payment solutions and, when and if provincial regulations in Canada and federal and state regulations in the United States evolve, potentially the ability to offer delivery services as well. Additionally, we believe that we may be able to adapt the Cova POS solution for restaurants in order to offer our restaurant base an integrated solution for in-house and food delivery services," concluded Mr. Grimstad.

The LOI sets forth a proposed purchase price of $90 million, to be paid in a combination of cash and shares of the Company's common stock, subject to customary adjustments. There can be no assurance that entry into the LOI will result in a definitive agreement or, if a definitive agreement is reached, the acquisition will close on the terms described above or at all. Legal, regulatory, business and financial diligence will need to be satisfactorily completed by both the Company and Cova, as well as other customary conditions and approvals.

Additionally, we are excited to share that in accordance with our previously announced rebranding strategy, we have acquired the "ASAP.com" domain name and reserved the Nasdaq trading symbol "ASAP." We expect that "ASAP" will serve as the foundation of our brand moving forward, as we believe it better embodies the future direction of our Company.

"Combining our industry leading retail cannabis technology with Waitr's on demand delivery logistics network and expertise in payments are a perfect match," said Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova. "Waitr and Cova share the same values -- we both put the retailer first and believe that nobody should get between them and their customers. This should further enable the dispensary retailers utilizing Cova software to grow and thrive."