Deliveroo looks set to formally begin IPO process next month By Investing.com

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – Deliveroo, the UK fast food delivery app, has reportedly set March 8th as the preliminary date when it will announce its intention to float, according to Sky News. The company could be one of the first of several large UK tech companies intending to IPO this year and the market value of the business could be as much as £7.5bln.

In late 2019, the company received backing from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) which was cleared by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) back in August last year. There were fears that the 16% investment could substantially lessen competition, but the CMA concluded that the delivery app could well have failed had it not been for the Amazon investment (given the Covid situation) and an exit from the market would have been worse for competition and customers than allowing investment to go ahead.

In January, the tech unicorn secured a further £132mln of funding from various shareholders, including Amazon. At the time of the announcement, Will Shu, Deliveroo’s founder and CEO, confirmed that the company was working on plans for an IPO.

Shu founded the company in 2013 and in January it was reported he owns a 6.8% stake in the company. At current valuation Shu’s stake would be worth over £500mln.

Other IPOs

The news of a potential listing follows that of online greeting card retailer Moonpig whose shares begun trading this month after a successful IPO. Shares jumped 25% in the first few minutes of trading. Shares have continued to perform well and the company is now valued at over £1.5bln.