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Grubhub Holdings has opened its first DC lobbying office, which will initially handle labor issues pertaining to the food delivery service.
Ashley De Smeth, who served in the Obama White House as an inter-agency liaison, heads the post as director of federal affairs.
Prior to Grubhub, De Smeth was head of PA & policy communications at Postmates, communications director for the American Federation of Government Employees and director of strategic communications & PA at the National League of Cities.
Dominic Sanchez, a one-time staffer to Democratic Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) and Chris Van Hollen (MD), backstops De Smeth.
Grubhub is part of Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.
The Dutch company acquired Grubhub in 2020 via an all-stock deal worth $7.3B, creating the world’s biggest food delivery service operation.
Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company banned by Defense Secretary Hegseth, has hired Ballard Partners for DC representation.
The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development enrolls Venable for government relations services.
Coinbase has hired Checkmate Government Relations, which has close ties to the Trump administration, to handle matters related to digital assets as the Senate works on the Clarity Act.
Peter Thiel-backed Palantir Technologies has added Democratic firm Ferox Strategies to its DC lobbying line-up to handle data analytics and technology issues.
Former congressmen Joe Crowley (D-NY) and Jeff Denham (R-CA) have signed on to handle the “new” TikTok on issues related to internet technology and learning-enabled platforms.
