Uber could be getting ready to buy Deliveroo, a food-delivery startup valued at over $2 billion and one of its biggest international rivals

• 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.

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

Read the full report from Bloomberg here.

 

 

 

 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch Apple unveil a new, bigger watch

Contributer : Tech Insider https://ift.tt/2PREo7f

Something that you might miss to see?