Online food ordering and delivery company Waitr Holdings signaled it wants to purchase cannabis point-of-sale provider Cova Software for $90 million in cash and stock.
Louisiana-based Waitr, which trades on the Nasdaq as WTRH, said Friday it entered into a nonbinding letter of intent (LOI) to acquire Retail Innovation Labs, which does business as Cova.
Cova has headquarters in Denver and Vancouver, British Columbia, and serves companies in North America.
In a news release, the company said there’s “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” the company has outlined.
“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,” the company added.
Cova CEO Gary Cohen indicated in the news release his company is open to a deal.
“Combining our industry-leading retail cannabis technology with Waitr’s on-demand delivery logistics network and expertise in payments are a perfect match,” Cohen said. “This should further enable the dispensary retailers utilizing Cova software to grow and thrive.”
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The proposed acquisition comes at a time of growing competition in the POS segment.
More vendors have introduced point-of-sale systems in 2021 than in previous years, setting up the possibility of downward price pressures in the sector and consolidation among businesses that provide the software to retailers.
Separately, Waitr announced in the news release its plan to rebrand the company as ASAP is moving ahead.
The company acquired the ASAP.com domain name and reserved the Nasdaq trading symbol ASAP.
