UK-based food delivery giant Deliveroo has raised a €515 million Series G funding round led by Amazon, alongside existing investors T. Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Greenoaks.
This is the third mega-round raised in Europe this week, after GetYourGuide’s €433 million round yesterday, and an $800 million round in the UK financial services company Greensill on Monday, both led by Softbank.
Founded in 2012, the round takes the total raised by Deliveroo to €1.4 billion. The European unicorn has seen revenue growth of over 650% year on year, and partnering restaurants also benefit with revenue increases of up to 30%, creating more jobs in the restaurant sector.
Deliveroo’s machine learning algorithms help to determine the time it will take to prepare a meal and to optimise routes, cutting delivery times by up to 20% and thus allowing riders to complete more deliveries per hour and increase their earnings, and enabling restaurants to increase their sales.
With the funding, Deliveroo will continue to build its service—bringing customers the food they want whenever and wherever they want it, offering more work for riders, and helping restaurants to grow their businesses by reaching new customers.
Deliveroo plans to expand its engineering team based in London, and grow its delivery reach in order to offer its service to even more new customers.
It also plans to develop new innovations in the foodtech sector, for example through delivery-only super kitchens “Editions”, as well as new products for customers to offer a more personalised experience, increased support for restaurant partners, and new tools to offer riders flexible and well-paid work.
“This new investment will help Deliveroo to grow and to offer customers even more choice, tailored to their personal tastes, offer restaurants greater opportunities to grow and expand their businesses, and to create more flexible, well-paid work for riders,” said Will Shu, founder and CEO of Deliveroo,
“Amazon has been an inspiration to me personally and to the company, and we look forward to working with such a customer-obsessed organisation.
“This is great news for the tech and restaurant sectors, and it will help to create jobs in all of the countries in which we operate.”
“We’re impressed with Deliveroo’s approach, and their dedication to providing customers with an ever increasing selection of great restaurants along with convenient delivery options,” said Doug Gurr, Amazon UK Country manager. “Will and his team have built an innovative technology and service, and we’re excited to see what they do next.”
