Delivery Hero

Delivery Hero SE operates online food ordering and delivery marketplaces, along with quick commerce grocery delivery, across about 60 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Its brands include Baemin in South Korea, foodpanda in Asia, talabat in the Middle East, PedidosYa in Latin America, Glovo and Yemeksepeti. Niklas Östberg, Kolja Hebenstreit, Markus Fuhrmann and Lukasz Gadowski founded the company in Berlin in May 2011, and Östberg has led it as chief executive. Growth came largely through acquisitions, including Yemeksepeti for €530 million in 2015, foodora from Rocket Internet in 2015, foodpanda in 2016, Woowa Brothers at a $4 billion valuation, completed in 2021, and a majority of Glovo in 2022.

The first funding round, in November 2011, brought €4 million from Team Europe, HV Capital, Tengelmann Ventures, Kite Ventures and ru-Net. Existing investors added €25 million in April 2012, and a further €40 million came in August 2012, mainly from Kite Ventures and Kreos Capital. Target Global invested in 2013, and Phenomen Ventures provided $30 million in a Series D. Insight Venture Partners led an $88 million Series E in January 2014, followed by $85 million in April 2014 and $350 million in September 2014 from existing investors and Vostok Nafta. Rocket Internet invested €496 million in primary and secondary shares for a 30% stake in late 2014, and Naspers invested €387 million in May 2017, becoming the largest shareholder.

Delivery Hero listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on June 30, 2017, raising almost €1 billion at a market value of about €4 billion, and replaced Wirecard in the DAX index in August 2020. Prosus, the Naspers subsidiary, raised its stake to 24.99% in 2021 and began selling down in 2026 under a European Commission condition tied to its purchase of Just Eat Takeaway. Uber invested $300 million in new shares in 2024. On July 16, 2026, Uber agreed a business combination with Delivery Hero and launched a cash offer of €41.50 per share, an equity value of $14.8 billion, with Prosus committing to tender. Delivery Hero agreed separately to sell businesses in 14 markets to SSW Partners for about $1.6 billion. Uber said the businesses it would acquire generated $42 billion of gross bookings in 2025.

Delivery Hero shows a European marketplace funded through many mid-sized rounds and then consolidated through acquisitions, with liquidity arriving six years after founding via a Frankfurt IPO rather than a sale. Early funds such as Team Europe, HV Capital and Kite Ventures entered at a €4 million first round in 2011. Strategic holders, first Rocket Internet and then Naspers and Prosus, became the largest shareholders, and a strategic buyer, Uber, set the price in the pending 2026 offer.