Food delivery service Deliveroo said on Friday it has raised $275 million in a new round of funding, making it one of only a handful of start-ups still attracting investments in the competitive food delivery market which Uber is now targeting.
The London-based company active in 12 countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, said in a statement that the new financing was led by experienced restaurant investor Bridgepoint, existing investor DST Global and General Catalyst.
Existing investor Greenoaks Capital also took part.
A source familiar with the investment said it was agreed at a higher valuation than previous rounds, putting Deliveroo’s value above the $1 billion which makes it just one of two European start-ups to achieve “unicorn” status this year.
The other company is Edinburgh-based travel search site SkyScanner, which raised funds giving it a $1.6 billion valuation early this year, according to venture market research firm data.
Deliveroo said the gross merchandise value of its food deliveries has grown 400% since its last $100 million investment round in November. It is now profitable in an unspecified number of markets where it operates, it said.
The new funds will be used for geographic expansion in new and existing markets as well as further investments in projects such as RooBox, which gives restaurants access to off-site kitchen space to cater for takeaway demand which cannot be supplied by their own restaurant kitchens.
UberEats is now available in 18 cities, mostly in the United States. In recent weeks, it expanded into London, where its app has been downloaded by more than 100,000 users in its first few days, the company said. Uber is actively staffing up in cities in Europe and Asia as part of an ambitious global expansion.