Deliveroo's revenue jumped 72% in 2018, fed by new products and markets

London-based Deliveroo announced that the company’s sales rose by £200 million in 2018. The growth is hard to miss. The food delivery platform was named Europe's second-fastest growing company by the Financial Times, and was the first to top Deloitte’s UK Fast 50 two years in a row.

Overall global sales rose to £476 million, an increase of 72 percent from the year before. Gross profit jumped 42 percent to £91 million. Deliveroo attributes this jump to increased order volumes, an enhanced customer offering, and continued growth in mature markets.

In 2018 Deliveroo both permeated existing markets and also expanded into new ones. The service opened in 250 new towns and cities. Then last fall, Deliveroo launched in two countries: Taiwan and Kuwait.

The company has used its growth to reinvest in itself, its partners, and delivery riders. Indeed, the service has developed far from its humble A-to-B food delivery beginnings, and its benefits seem to spread far beyond the company.

The company devoted £18 million to its technology in 2018 alone, and expanded its operations by inviting restaurants that employ their own delivery fleets. Marketplace+ gives these restaurants access to the Deliveroo customer base. The move added 7,000 partner restaurants to the platform within six months, 2,000 more than predicted.

In turn, Deliveroo boosts individual restaurants’ business as well as local economies. Independent analysis by Capital Economics shows that Deliveroo enabled UK restaurant partners to boost their sales by £1 billion in 2018, including £320 million for independent restaurants. The study also found that the company has helped create 25,000 jobs in UK’s restaurant sector since it launched in 2013.

As for Deliveroo riders, they receive free insurance and access to hundreds of online courses, so that they stay safe on the roads and can continue their education or professional development.

Will Shu, co-founder and CEO said, “We’re focused on our mission of becoming the definitive food company, and we’ve continued to invest heavily in expansion, technology, and new products to meet this ambition. We are leading the field in innovation in food delivery, helping our restaurant partners to boost their sales and providing more well-paid work for riders.”

There’s bound to be more growth, evolution, and impact in the coming years, given the recent $575 million round led by Amazon, which brings Deliveroo’s total funding to over $1.5 billion.

Shu believes “this is just the beginning.” He continued, “I can’t wait to work with new great local restaurants to deliver meals to millions of more customers around the globe.”