Delivery Hero, the German food delivery startup that has recently been valued at $3.1 billion, has pushed back its flotation to the second-half of 2016, the company's chief executive told CNBC.
The company, which delivers food from more than 200,000 restaurants in 34 markets, had previously signalled that an initial public offering (IPO) could come this year, but CEO Niklas Östberg, said there were "too many other things to focus on."
"We won't IPO in next few months. But it's not too wrong to believe that we would go next year, second half of next year," Östberg told CNBC in an interview at the Slush technology conference in Helsinki, Finland.
The CEO of the German startup also revealed that it now processes 12 million order a month, up from the 10 million in August and is on track to hit 14 million monthly orders by the end of the year.
Asked whether the company would list in Europe or the U.S., Östberg said it doesn't matter much, adding that most of the company's existing investor base is from America and he is likely to see mostly U.S. investors buy shares when the company floats.
Östberg's comments come amid an uncertain time for technology IPOs. Music streaming app Deezer recently announced it was to postpone its flotation while Hello Fresh pulled its IPO this week. And last week, mobile payments firm Square priced its IPO at a 30 percent discount to its private valuation. But none of this worries Delivery Hero's CEO.
"We have public peers in the industry which helps so people can compare while a company like Hello Fresh there is not much to compare. People now want the safety (amid a volatile public market) and it's much easier for a company like ours, we are larger than our public peers," Östberg said.
The food delivery space is highly competitive with the likes of U.K.-listed Just Eat, Deliveroo and Grubhub all competing in the space.
In June, two U.S. funds invested $110 million in Delivery Hero valuing it at $3.1 billion. The availability of private cash, according to Östberg, has meant the company does not need to rush into an IPO.
"If we need money we could raise private capital. We enjoy being private these days because we can build the business...innovate and make bets," Östberg told CNBC.
Delivery Hero has been highly acquisitive, buying Turkish food delivery giant Yemeksepeti and Talabat.com in the Middle East earlier this year. Östberg said he has no plans to expand into the U.S. yet because it is "super competitive" and he is focusing on "winning" in its current countries.
