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Uber Technologies is in negotiations to take over the British Roofoods. This food delivery service is also known under the trade name Deliveroo. It was founded in 2012 and has quickly spread across a number of countries and on several continents. The conversations are still in an early stage and there is no information yet about a possible price.

Deliveroo is active here in the Netherlands. But it was launched in the United Kingdom and is active in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. Last year, it raised another $500 million in an investment round, including from Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price Group. The company already seems to be worth $2 billion.

High amount

Given these high figures, investors in Deliveroo would like to collect a considerable amount of money for the possible acquisition. That’s what press agency Bloomberg says on the basis of anonymous sources within the company. But that wouldn’t be the only concern: the sources would also say that Deliveroo and its investors would rather not let go of independence.

Uber would like to take over Deliveroo to expand its Uber Eats service. That platform is doing well and according to CEO Dara Khosroshahi of Uber, a lot of money is being invested in expanding it. The division would attract even more investments than any other division within the company.

Strong competition

Uber Eats is doing very well, but has to deal with fierce competition. Besides Uber Eats and Deliveroo, Foodora is also active in the Netherlands and many smaller restaurants have their own delivery staff. Uber has to compete with all of them, and that battle is being fought mainly on the margins. Each delivery service requires a fee from the restaurant for which the food is delivered.

The possible acquisition of Deliveroo by Uber is a sign of further consolidation in the market for food delivery services. In the United Kingdom, Just Eat took over Hungryhouse, a competitor, for $318 million. In India, Ola took over the local arm of Foodpanda, and in Australia, after fierce competition with Deliveroo and Uber Eats, Foodora stopped.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.