Deliveroo Prioritise 'Rapid Growth' of 'Dark Kitchens' After £284m Investment
Restaurant delivery company will accelerate number of Deliveroo Editions sites and invest in tech team
by Adam Coghlan@AdamCoghlan Sep 27, 2017, 9:35am BST
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Motu at a Deliveroo Editions site in Camberwell
Ben McMahon
Restaurant delivery company Deliveroo, who last week announced six new so-called 'dark kitchen' Deliveroo Editions sites in London, have raised £284m new funding. As part of their growth strategy, the company has said that continuing the "rapid growth" of the kitchen-only Editions sites is one of three priority areas.
The new investment in the company — led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and Fidelity Management & Research Company, (investment managers who have backed Facebook, AirBnB and Tesla) — means that Deliveroo is now valued at over $2 billion dollars and makes it "the fastest growing UK tech company and one of Europe's biggest tech success stories."
Deliveroo have outlined the three priority growth areas in which it will focus investment:
"Rapid growth in Deliveroo's Editions programme of delivery-only kitchens which allows partner restaurants to expand without any of the traditional upfront costs, whilst increasing food selection for customers and optimising delivery times."
"Growth of its technology team, who will focus on continuing to make improvements to Deliveroo's world-leading real-time logistics algorithm and AI systems while improving riders' working experience and continuing to develop Deliveroo's products."
"Rapid expansion into new towns, cities and countries. This will allow more people to order great food quickly to their door from their favourite local restaurants."
Will Shu, Deliveroo's founder and CEO, said:
"I remember how excited I was carrying out our first delivery. I hoped that people would love being able to order great food from their favourite local restaurants straight to their front door. I am proud that just four years on, millions of people use Deliveroo in over 150 cities around the world. This is all thanks to the hard work of our riders, the great restaurants that we work with and our brilliant customers.
"With this funding we will invest further in our delivery-only kitchens Editions, in developing our technology and in taking Deliveroo to more towns and cities. This investment will take us to the next level and allow our riders to deliver ever more great food directly to people's doors."
Through a "proprietary data-led site-selection engine" Deliveroo say that their Editions "match a specific area with a restaurant that has the greatest chance of success in that location, meaning more choice for customers and the chance for restaurants to scale fast."
They provide restaurants with the infrastructure to set up their kitchens so they can introduce their brand to a new area within two or three months. They say they provide restaurants with unique insights "that allow them to tailor menu items and pricing to the customer base, leading to increases in sales of up to 400%."
The new funding will help introduce Editions to the twelve countries in which Deliveroo operates and expand existing Editions sites in London, Brighton, Reading, Leeds, Nottingham, Cambridge, Manchester, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, and Paris.
Deliveroo has also said it will invest in kitchen automation technology to improve efficiency, "utilising the latest advances in robotics and industrial control systems to help restaurant chefs focus on high skill activities that increase the quality of food at lower cost."
Deliveroo is based in London, with more than 1,000 employees in offices around the world. The company operates in over 150 cities across 12 countries, including Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, UAE and the UK.