David Chang-Backed Delivery Service Maple Suddenly Shuts Down In New York

After two years in business and after raising millions of dollars in funding, with one of the backers being famous restaurateur David Chang, meal delivery service Maple suddenly ceased operations on May 8.

Caleb Merkle and Akshay Navle, co-owners of the delivery service, wrote a letter on the Maple website explaining their decision to step away from the New York City market.

"While an incredibly difficult decision for us given the effect on our core operations, it became clear that we needed to close the Maple operation here in New York and look for a partner with scale — one that would allow us to leverage all that we had built across a broader platform," Merkle and Navle wrote.

The co-owners also announced that the service has been sold to U.K.-based delivery service Deliveroo, which operates in 12 countries and 140 cities around the world.

"Given the overlap in our goals and the significant scale of Deliveroo's operations, working together makes sense. As a result, some members of the Maple team will join Deliveroo operations in London, and our technology will be used to help accelerate growth and efficiency across the platform," the company said.