Uber in talks to acquire Deliveroo, one of Europe’s hottest startups: Report

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• Uber is reportedly in early talks to buy Deliveroo, a
  hot London-based food delivery startup.
• Deliveroo is one of the biggest international rivals to
  Uber Eats, the ride-hailing giant’s own food delivery
  app. 
• Deliveroo was most recently valued at $2 billion in a
  funding round last year.

Uber is in early talks to buy Deliveroo, a fast-growing food
delivery-startup based in London, according to a
new report from Bloomberg. 

Deliveroo is one of Europe’s biggest startup success stories:
Founded in 2013 by Americans Will Shu and Greg
Orlowski, Deliveroo enlists contract employees as couriers, who
deliver food from local restaurants in some 200 cities all over
the UK, the European Union, Asia, and Australia.

Last year,
Deliveroo raised $482 million in venture funding, in a deal
valuing the company at around $2 billion. According to the
Bloomberg report, Deliveroo would not be interested in selling
for any price that’s not “considerably higher” than its current
valuation.

The startup is also one of the chief international rivals
to Uber Eats, the ride-hailing giant’s own food-delivery service.
Under CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber has redoubled its efforts
around food delivery ahead of a planned 2019 IPO. 

On the subject of IPOs, Deliveroo’s Shu said earlier this
year that a debut on the public markets was not in the cards for
his startup. However, rumors have persisted that Deliveroo has —
or, had — IPO ambitions. At the time of its 2017 fundraise,

Deliveroo was operating at gross margins of 0.7%; a figure
that some pundits thought was too small.

We’ve reached out to Uber and Deliveroo for comment and
will update if we hear back. 

Read the
full report from Bloomberg here.