Amazon-backed Deliveroo raises $180mn from funding round

Amazon-backed food-delivery start-up Deliveroo is now valued above $7 billion after raising $180 million in its latest funding round.

The UK-headquartered company had raised over $180 million from existing investors, led by Durable Capital Partners and Fidelity Management & Research Company, it said in a statement. However, Deliveroo did not reveal the contribution made by each investor to the new round.

The latest fundraising is not expected to raise Amazon’s share in Deliveroo, which purchased a 16 percent stake in the firm after receiving Britain competition regulator’s approval in 2019.

“This investment will help us to continue to innovate, developing new tech tools to support restaurants, to provide riders with more work and to extend choice for customers, bringing them the food they love from more restaurants than ever before,” Will Shu, founder and chief executive of Deliveroo, said.

The completed financing round comes as the firm eyes a potential initial public offering, which would be the biggest new share issue in London for three years. Online food-delivery businesses had experienced a boom in demand globally amid the lockdown as customers ordered more meals from home.

Established in 2013, the London-based Deliveroo operates in 800 towns and cities across 12 markets, including the UAE, Kuwait, Australia, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain and the UK.

The start-up now has more than 2,000 employees in its offices around the world and its network spans over 140,000 restaurants and 110,000 riders globally.

The firm in its statement said that it will invest the fund for further expanding the business which includes establishing delivery-only kitchen sites globally, broadening its on-demand grocery and its subscription services, allowing customers to order delivery via the restaurants’ own websites and formulating new initiatives to support its riders.

“The online food delivery market is underpenetrated. We believe Deliveroo has the potential to become a much bigger company over time,” Henry Ellenbogen, managing partner and chief investment officer at Durable Capital Partners, said.