Online food ordering company Delivery Hero has rapidly become one of Europe's superstar start-ups after its latest round of funding gave it a market valuation of $3.1 billion.
Two U.S. funds invested $110 million into the Berlin-based business as it looks to take on rivals such as Just Eat in the competitive food delivery space. The fundraising also comes ahead of a potential initial public offering, which the company has previously signaled could come this year.
The money will be used for "selective acquisitions and intensive product innovation", the start-up, which operates in 34 countries, said in a press release on Monday.
Delivery Hero did not disclose the names of the latest funds to finance it, but previous investors include Insight Venture Partners, General Atlantic, and Rocket Internet, alongside a number of blue chip U.S.-based public fund managers.
The start-up is playing in a very fast-growing sector with rivals all embarking on aggressive expansion drives. Delivery Hero last month spent $589 million to buy Turkish food delivery giant Yemeksepeti and earlier this year announced its entry into the Middle East via the acquisition of regional player Talabat.com.
U.K. competitor Just Eat snapped up Australian takeaway and delivery company Menulog in May for £445 million ($680.6 million).
Delivery Hero claims to have a network of 200,000 restaurants and said it processes 10 million orders every month. Its £3.1 billion valuation puts it just behind U.S. publicly listed rival GrubHub which has a $3.2 billion market capitalization. London-listed Just Eat has a market capitalization of £2.87 billion.
The latest funding round follows on from a 287 million euro ($320.1 million) investment from Rocket Internet in February.
Citigroup advised on this capital raising and GLNS acted as legal advisors.
