Brief: Deliveroo raises $180m in pre-IPO funding at $7bn valuation

• Deliveroo has raised $180 million in a funding round co-led by US firms Fidelity Management & Research and Durable Capital Partners.

• The UK food delivery app said it will use the capital “to further drive growth and enhancements to its services for restaurants, riders, and consumers,” including expansion of its ‘dark kitchen’ network and grocery delivery business.

• “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,” founder and CEO Will Shu said in a statement.

Why it matters:

Deliveroo, which allows users to order meals and have them delivered from third-party restaurants as well as its own dark kitchens, says the round values it at over $7 billion.

The app added a doorstep grocery delivery service when the UK implemented its first lockdown in the wake of Covid-19 last March. This had become the fastest-growing part of its business by last month, allowing the company to become “profitable at the operational level”, according to Shu.

In a statement announcing the funding, Deliveroo confirmed its intention to go public following months of speculation that it has been planning an IPO. The pre-float round “reflects strong demand from existing shareholders to invest in the company,” it said.

Deliveroo launched in London in 2012, and has since expanded into multiple European, Middle Eastern, and Asia-Pacific markets. Its last funding round was a $575 million Series G injection led by Amazon in May 2019.

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