A group of former Grubhub executives is challenging AAA’s market dominance through a newly unified digital roadside assistance platform.
The move follows the acquisition of Curbside SOS by the private equity-backed platform Honk Technologies last month, according to Grubhub co-founder Matt Maloney.
While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the combined entity will be majority-owned by private equity firm Frontenac and led by the Curbside management team, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The deal brings Maloney back together with several of his former colleagues, including Adam DeWitt and Eric Ferguson, who served as Grubhub’s chief executive and chief operating officer respectively.
The team aims to apply the logistics-heavy model of food delivery to vehicle breakdowns. Curbside SOS focuses on individual motorists through a consumer-facing app, while Honk Technologies operates primarily as a business-to-business service for insurance companies and fleet managers.
The two companies combined completed more than one million jobs last year, Maloney told The Wall Street Journal.
The platform functions similarly to modern service apps, allowing users to view transparent pricing upfront, track the arrival of assistance in real-time and process digital payments.
In an effort to speed up response times, Curbside has also begun training gig economy workers to perform basic vehicle repairs — such as tire changes or jump-starts — that do not require a heavy-duty tow truck.
The merger aims to challenge AAA, the non-profit federation of motor clubs that has led the American market since 1902. The organization currently has more than 60 million members.
Maloney’s pivot to roadside assistance follows his departure from Grubhub in 2021.
Once a pioneer in the U.S. food-delivery space, Grubhub struggled under intense competition from rivals such as DoorDash. After being acquired by Europe’s Just Eat Takeaway.com in 2020, the company was eventually resold at a significantly lower valuation than its peak.
The new combined company will continue to trade under the Honk Technologies name for its corporate operations, while maintaining both the Curbside and Honk brands for their respective markets.
