Waitr Acquiring Cannabis POS, Inventory and Software Business Cova

Aggregator and digital ordering technology company Waitr Holdings Inc. signed a non-binding letter of intent Friday (Dec. 17) to acquire cannabis-focused point of sale (POS), inventory and compliance software platform Retail Innovation Labs Inc. dba Cova.

“We believe that the Cova POS solution will be symbiotic with our recently acquired Cape Payments business 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,” Carl Grimstad, Waitr CEO and chairman, said in the joint announcement.

About 2,000 dispensaries in Canada and the United States use Cova’s software platform.

“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,” said Grimstad.

Waitr’s letter of intent includes a proposed $90 million purchase price to be paid in both cash and shares of the company’s common stock, subject to customary adjustments. Signing the letter is not a guarantee that the companies will result in a definitive agreement or if an agreement will lead to the acquisition closing under the same terms — or at all.

Waitr and Cova must complete legal, regulatory, business and financial diligence, as well as other customary conditions and approvals.

Waitr has also acquired the ASAP.com domain name and reserved the Nasdaq trading symbol ASAP as part of a company rebranding.

“Combining our industry leading retail cannabis technology with Waitr’s on demand delivery logistics network and expertise in payments are a perfect match,” Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova, said in the announcement. “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.”

Related: Restaurant POS Consolidation Proves Systems Must Do More Than Just Process Payments

Last month, Waitr announced its partnership with payment processing company Shift4 to bring Shift4’s Harbortouch POS system to its restaurant customers in 2022.