Deliveroo – Company Profile

Deliveroo is a leading online food ordering and delivery platform based out of London. It was founded in 2013 and is listed on London Stock Exchange. The company has redefined how restaurants and other food outlets serve their customers. Deliveroo utilizes advanced tech to help hungry folks find the best food that they are craving for. Apart from UK, Deliveroo is also operational at various locations across countries such as France, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Australia.

Deliveroo has a pretty simple business model, wherein a fee is charged from both restaurants and customers. The company has yet to register profit, as significant investments have gone into setting up the platform. However, with ever growing list of customers and restaurant partners, Deliveroo may book its first profit pretty soon. As of now, Deliveroo has more than 115,000 restaurants and grocers on its platform. It is active in more than 200 cities globally. The number of riders who deliver food is in excess of 100,000.

History

Back in 2013 when Will Shu shifted to London, he was amazed to see the wide variety of restaurants that the city has to offer. However, Shu also noticed that only a small percentage of these restaurants offered home delivery services. Shu realized that the existing setup can be improved significantly if home delivery option could be added for all these amazing restaurants. This core idea eventually led to the launch of Deliveroo food delivery service.

With its game changing idea, Deliveroo quickly expanded to multiple cities in UK and internationally as well. It has registered an impressive revenue growth of more than 650% (year on year). Restaurant partners have gained immensely, as their revenue has increased by up to 30%. Deliveroo has created thousands of jobs, including those at restaurants and food delivery riders. Customers benefit the most, as they can get their favorite food home delivered in the shortest possible time.

Funding

Deliveroo has received investments worth USD 1.7 billion via 11 rounds of funding. With the IPO in 2021, total funding is now at USD 12.2 billion. Some of the top investors include Hoxton Ventures, Index Ventures, Accel, Hummingbird Ventures, Greenoaks Capital, Bridgepoint, and Amazon.

Acquisitions

Deliveroo has made two acquisitions till date. The first was Maple in 2017. Maple was a food delivery platform based out of New York, USA. Second acquisition was that of Cultivate in 2019. Cultivate was a software design and development company.

Competitors

Deliveroo competes with other online food ordering and delivery platforms such as Just Eat, Delivery Hero, Uber Eats, Menulog, DoorDash, and Grubhub.

About the founder

Deliveroo founder Will Shu currently serves as the CEO of the company. A UK-based American businessman, Shu has a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. He has also completed his MBA from Wharton Business School. He had earlier worked with Morgan Stanley.