During the pandemic, Uber Eats was well positioned to meet the surge in demand for essential deliveries. As part of the global strategy and data science team, we were tasked with launching Uber’s grocery platform to address this need.

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Our most impactful work came from launching dark stores in Japan and Taiwan, testing the viability of 15–30 minute grocery delivery as competitors like GoPuff and Getir gained traction. We scaled operations to 20 locations and generated $100M in revenue.



Pricing quickly proved to be the biggest challenge, especially in highly elastic North Asian markets. This led us to develop the core technology behind BetterBasket—tools for price scraping, product matching, and elasticity analysis—laying the foundation for what would become our next chapter.

At the same time, supply chain disruptions in the U.S. led to unprecedented cost volatility. Labor expenses surged, and consumers became increasingly frustrated with rising grocery prices—accusing retailers of "greedflation." Prices hadn't been this high as a percentage of income in decades.

Grocers were left asking:
Is the Walmart down the street passing on cost increases?
Where should we hold the line on pricing?
What is our actual price elasticity?

Against this backdrop, we signed our first customer, Supermercado Econo, at Groceryshop 2023. Just days later, we were accepted into Y Combinator, the world’s leading startup accelerator. And with that, BetterBasket was off to the races.