In its latest funding round, Deliveroo raised $100 million for its restaurant delivery service. Here are the five things you need to know about the London start-up.
Deliveroo has been in the press lately, what with its funding raise last year and the departure of its CTO and founder last month.
It's an amazing example of a London start-up that answered a place-specific demand and expanded throughout the world in three short years.
I'd challenge you to walk through the streets of London without seeing a Deliveroo scooter pretty quickly. And check out its social media streams, which are a masterclass in talking to customers in their language - whoever they are.
1. Who was it founded by?
It was founded by former investment banker Will Shu and CTO Greg Orlowski in 2013. Shu told Business Insider that he delivered food himself nearly every day for the first 10 months of the company's history and added "I still do it on the weekends. Not every week, but I do it for fitness and because it's fun."
Greg Orlowski quit in February to move back to Chicago. “[Greg] has decided to devote himself to new interests closer to home, where he can be with his growing family,” Shu told the Evening Standard.
2. How much is it worth?
Investors paid £133.85 for shares in the latest funding round in November. This means the company is valued at £376 million. Deliveroo has gone through four rounds of seed funding totalling $200 million and VCs include DST Global, Greenoaks Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Hummingbird Ventures and JamJar Investments.
Seed funding has also been proven to be hugely helpful for London tech startup SPACIOUS, which closed £500,00 in seed funding. Find out more here.
3. What's its USP?
Many food delivery businesses are just online marketplaces for takeaway restaurants. Deliveroo aims to partner with premium restaurants that don’t typically provide delivery. They even deliver from the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant in Marylebone, Trishna.
4. Where is it based?
Deliveroo is now available in 30 cities in the UK and 20 cities throughout the rest of the world, with most of those in Europe. It also launched in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne, and Sydney in 2015. According to Forbes, "It estimates that it uses around 5,000 drivers globally – of which 3,000 are in the UK – and connects 8,000 restaurants to consumers at home. "
5. What's the other side of the story?
Deliveroo has recieved criticism for being part of the "gig" economy where drivers get paid the minimum wage and no benefits. As Stefan Stern in The Guardian put it:
"There are just too many bad gigs in the gig economy. This is not funny. The challenge for good employers, as well as for unions, is to navigate a way through all this change as skilfully as the niftiest Deliveroo driver."
Find out more about Deliveroo
