About 18 months after the company launched its chat- and voice-based alcohol delivery service, Denver startup Handoff has been acquired.
The company announced this week that it has been acquired by newly merged Ft. Collins-based Encompass Technologies and Portland-based Orchestra Software.
While the founding team didn’t anticipate an acquisition this early into the company’s lifecycle, Handoff Technologies CEO Tommy Riley said the move will enable the company to rapidly accelerate its expansion and product development.
“We were initially just raising money and it ended up turning into an acquisition conversation that made sense for us,” Riley said of conversations with Encompass. “They have an incredibly nuanced understanding of the market and clearly had a plan that they were ready to execute on. I think our team and product and the growth we’ve envisioned is only going to be boosted by being acquired.”
As part of the acquisition, Handoff will continue to operate under its unique brand and its consumer reach will be expanded nationally with the help of its parent company’s network of suppliers, distributors, and retailers.
Brewery production software maker Orchestra Software merged earlier this year with beverage distributor software company Encompass Technologies. Combined, they work with more than 350 breweries and distilleries, 600 distribution warehouses and more than 14,000 retailers globally to digitize business operations and production.
With the weight of Encompass and Orchestra at its back, Riley said that Handoff is now able to tap into a deep network of customers and data to further expand the company’s reach.
“We have unprecedented new access to retail, which is the key that unlocks the magic to Handoff,” he said. “We will be able to expand nationwide, ideally, very quickly.”
In March, as the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Handoff hid all non-local beers from its platform in an effort to support local breweries. For the next 30 days, Handoff users were prompted in-app to order beer from Denver-area breweries such as Great Divide Brewing, 10 Barrel Brewing, Epic Brewing, Odell Brewing and others.
Handoff’s mobile app that recommends and delivers beer, wine and spirits is available on iPhone, Android, Google Home and Amazon Alexa. The company recently introduced a new director-to-consumer feature that creates a plug-in for suppliers, allowing them to process delivery orders from their native websites.
The terms of Encompass and Orchestra’s acquisition of Handoff were not disclosed.
As the company integrates with its new parent, Riley is optimistic about Handoff and the alcohol delivery industry’s future.
“Looking forward, particularly for our industry, the pandemic has served as alcohol delivery’s coming-out party. The awareness levels have really jumped through the roof,” he said. “Alcohol delivery and where we’re able to take it has an incredibly bright future now that it’s in the minds of the everyday consumer.”
