Delivery Hero Secures $88M Series E, Aims to Conquer European Online Delivery Space

The past few years have been booming in the online restaurant delivery space. Takeout giants Seamless and Grubhub combined forces, British-based Just-Eat brought its total funding  up to roughly $130 million, and newer competitor FoodPanda announced $20 million in investment. Adding to the list, German restaurant delivery startup Delivery Hero announced that it has raised a whopping $88 million Series E round earlier this week.

The round was led by Insight Venture Partners – which previously invested in Shopify, Privalia and Living Social – and brings the company’s total funding to roughly $200 million. Previous rounds were led by Kite Ventures, Team Europe and Phenemon Venture, among others.

Delivery Hero has seen impressive growth over the last couple of years. The startup works with 55,000 restaurants in 14 countries world-wide, has delivered to 6 million consumers and has generated over $500 million in sales annually for its restaurant partners, reports TechCrunch.

“We had more than a handful of good VCs pitching for the investment,”  CEO Niklas Ostberg tells TechCrunch. “We looked for someone with marketplace experience, global network and who shares our vision.” And Insight Venture Partners is banking on the fact that scale will give Delivery Hero a leg up in the space. “We believe the company has the capability to win globally, providing online and mobile food ordering in all major markets worldwide,” managing director at Insight Venture Partners Jeff Lieberman reports to TechCrunch. 

Ostberg hinted to TechCrunch that the startup would put the funds raised towards acquisitions. As far as an IPO, the company has no immediate plans to go public. Its main focus now is continuing to improve its service for restaurant partners and users, while winning the markets in which it’s already active.