Food delivery company Deliveroo has chosen to hold its market debut in London, and said Friday that it will be adopting a dual-class share structure for its listing, similar to Google and Facebook.
The Amazon-backed company is expected to go public later this year. The food delivery startup went from nearly going bankrupt in early 2020 to become a profitable company towards the end of the year. Similar to other food delivery businesses, Deliveroo got a massive boost in demand after people were forced to order their food online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Deliveroo said that part of the reason it had chosen to list in London was the availability of a dual-class share sale option. This will give its founder and chief executive officer the ability to take on enhanced voting rights and therefore more control over the company. The option was made available as part of the city's capital market reforms to attract more foreign listings.
"Deliveroo was born in London. This is where I founded the company and delivered our first order. London is a great place to live, work, do business and eat. That's why I'm so proud and excited about a potential listing here," Shu said in a statement.
The company has not yet announced pricing information for its planned initial public offering. During its last fundraising, where the company was valued at more than $7 billion, Deliveroo raised $180 million in fresh capital from investors such as Amazon, Fidelity, Accel, Index Ventures, and Durable Capital Partners.
The upcoming listing is expected to be a big boon to London's stock market; a boon that it badly needs following its withdrawal from the European Union. Last month, Amsterdam's stock exchange overtook London as Europe's largest share trading capital.
British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said that Deliveroo is a "true British tech success story." He said that having the company list in London is "great news" for the city and for the company as it moves forward with the next stage of its growth. Sunak said that the city will endeavor to enact additional reforms to encourage more businesses to list in the UK.
Analysts said that Deliveroo's listing should be a great addition to the seven unicorns that have listed in the United Kingdom last year. With Deliveroo, the Britain will have a total of 80 tech startups valued at more than £1 billion ($1.39 billion).
