Austin—This past summer had been the season of alcohol delivery startups. As we go into the year-end festivities, Philadelphia-based goBooze announced today that it has expanded service to Austin.
GoBooze is the alcohol delivery arm of goPuff, a delivery service company that delivers all manner of consumer products and food that says it fulfills orders in 30 minutes or less. The company is in 10 other markets across the US; Austin is its first Texas market.
GoBooze will start out delivering beer and wine and plans to add hard liquor and an expanded number of local beers in the coming months. Delivery times are from noon to midnight each day, except for 1 am on Sunday, and will include a $1.95 delivery charge. (The fee is waived for orders of more than $49.)
Founded three years ago by two Drexel University graduates, goPuff added the alcohol delivery service in 2014. The company most recently closed on a Series A round of funding of $8.25 million.
The company says it is able to meet such fast delivery times because it establishes warehouses stocked with product in each of its local markets.
GoBooze joins more than half a dozen startups in the market that enable customers to shop for beer, wine, and liquor online and have orders delivered to their homes. Other companies in this young, and getting frothy, industry include Drizly, Thirstie, Minibar Delivery, Swill, and Saucey, among others.
Last month, Boston-based Drizly raised $15 million in a Series B investment led by Polaris Partners, with contributions from previous backers Fairhaven Capital and Suffolk Equity Partners. (That brings its total funding raised to $32.8 million since it was founded in 2012.) In June, New York-based SevenFifty raised $8.5 million in a Series A round led by Formation8, to further develop its service that aims at making the alcohol wholesale market more efficient.
Earlier this year, New York-based Thirstie acquired DrinkFly, a Chicago-based rival.
