Amazon is investing in British meal delivery company Deliveroo, giving the online shopping behemoth a larger stake in the fast-growing restaurant delivery business.
Amazon failed to get its own restaurant delivery business going in the United Kingdom, shutting it down for good late last year. It faced tough competition from Deliveroo, as well as its other rivals in the country such as Just Eat and UberEats. Amazon's service, called Amazon Restaurants, still operates in several US cities.
Deliveroo, whose Kangaroo logo is a common sight on scooters and bicycles around Britain, said Friday that it raised US$575 million ($881.4m) from a number of investors led by Amazon. The Seattle company will be Deliveroo's largest investor, but did not disclose how much of a stake Amazon acquired. Amazon.com Inc. declined to comment Friday.
With Amazon now on its side, shares of Deliveroo's competitors fell Friday. Just Eat, which trades on the London Stock Exchange, dropped 8 per cent. And Uber, the ride-hailing company that owns UberEats, fell 1.3 per cent.
Founded in 2013, Deliveroo has about 60,000 riders delivering food from some 80,000 restaurants in 14 countries, including Australia, France and Germany.