UK Food Delivery Startup Deliveroo Considers IPO

Deliveroo is the latest startup to consider going public.

The London-based online delivery platform has talked with potential investors about the possibility of filing an initial public offering (IPO) next year, sources told Bloomberg.

No final decisions have been made and Deliveroo may still decide against going ahead with listing plans, they said.

A representative for Deliveroo declined to comment.

The news outlet reported Deliveroo was valued at more than $2 billion three years ago, but the company didn’t reveal a valuation after its latest investment round in 2019.

Deliveroo has reported sales from its food delivery business grew 72 percent in 2018, reaching £476 million ($607 million) for the year.

Launched in 2013 by William Shu, the company operates in 200 locations across the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Last month, Amazon.com won approval by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority for the eCommerce giant’s 16 percent stake in Deliveroo. The U.K.’s competition watchdog ruled the deal would not significantly dampen competition as the online delivery service battles market share with rivals Just Eat Takeaway, Uber Eats and Domino’s.

In 2019, Amazon announced a $575 million deal to buy a stake in Deliveroo, only to have the transaction held up by the U.K. regulator over concerns the deal might hurt competition in the restaurant delivery sector.

PYMNTS reported in July that over the previous 30 days, online grocery sales grew more than 9 percent, hitting a record of $7.2 billion, up from $6.6 billion in May, an increase of $600 million in one month. As a result, it’s no surprise that everyone from Amazon to Zomato wants a piece of it.

In a $2.7 billion deal, Postmates, the San Francisco-based local delivery service for restaurant-prepared meals, joined Uber Technologies Inc.’s platform, and the $7.3 billion bid by Just Eat Takeaway to acquire Grubhub, the Chicago-based prepared food ordering and delivery platform, was another recent development in the delivery realm.