Pioneering food delivery
:format(webp))
:format(webp))
:format(webp))
:format(webp))
:format(webp))
In 2010, ordering food online was an entirely different experience than it is today. Customers had to rely on poorly designed restaurant websites to find contact details, and call or fax a restaurant to place an order. Even then, customers were often limited to restaurants like pizzerias or Chinese takeouts that had their own delivery drivers.
Delivery Hero was cofounded in 2011 by Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Östberg to streamline food delivery for millions of customers worldwide, opening them up to a whole host of local restaurants they hadn’t yet discovered.
The company started out as an online food delivery service in Berlin and has since grown into the largest delivery network outside of China. Today, it delivers everything from meals and groceries to medicine to customers in 70 countries worldwide.
In June 2017, Delivery Hero listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at a valuation of approximately €4.4 billion — one of the largest European tech IPOs of that year.
It later became part of MDAX, Germany’s prime stock market index, cementing its position as one of the defining success stories of Europe’s internet era.
In 2010, ordering food online was an entirely different experience than it is today. Customers had to rely on poorly designed restaurant websites to find contact details, and call or fax a restaurant to place an order. Even then, customers were often limited to restaurants like pizzerias or Chinese takeouts that had their own delivery drivers.
Delivery Hero was cofounded in 2011 by Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Östberg to streamline food delivery for millions of customers worldwide, opening them up to a whole host of local restaurants they hadn’t yet discovered.
The company started out as an online food delivery service in Berlin and has since grown into the largest delivery network outside of China. Today, it delivers everything from meals and groceries to medicine to customers in 70 countries worldwide.
In June 2017, Delivery Hero listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at a valuation of approximately €4.4 billion — one of the largest European tech IPOs of that year.
It later became part of MDAX, Germany’s prime stock market index, cementing its position as one of the defining success stories of Europe’s internet era.
The buy-and-build machine
Shortly after its founding in 2011, Delivery Hero began executing a buy-and-build strategy, enabling it to scale quickly across continents.
The company knew that starting food delivery brands from scratch in different markets — that each have their own culture and rituals around food — wouldn’t be the right approach.
Instead, the company identified the markets where digital food ordering was about to take off, acquired the leading local player, and integrated the company under shared technology infrastructure.
In nearly all cases, Delivery Hero kept the original brand names of the companies it acquired in order to maintain the trust it had built with local customers.
For example, Middle Eastern food delivery brand Talabt — which publicly listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) in December 2024 — maintained its original brand name when it was acquired by Delivery Hero, as did South Korean delivery platform Baedal Minjok and Spanish brand Glovo.
Alexander Joël-Carbonell, partner at HV, who previously led Delivery Hero’s M&A strategy between 2017 and 2020, says this was part of Delivery Hero’s “recipe for success.”
“Food delivery is such a local experience. That’s why Delivery Hero always worked with local talent that had already built up a platform and funded it, keeping the team as it is,” he says.
:format(webp))
:format(webp))
:format(webp))
“It was always remarkable to me that Niklas managed founders in Colombia, in Saudi Arabia, in Asia, in a very culturally aware and motivating way,” he adds. “He tried his best to apply their best practices without dominating or putting a Swedish or German stamp on the local founders.”
Alexander Joël-Carbonell
Partner, HV
:format(webp))
Ahead of the curve
Delivery Hero always had a talent for anticipating what the next technology wave would be that would have quick uptake among customers.
In 2019, the company was one of the first movers in the quick commerce industry, launching its first delivery-only supermarket (Dmart) in Turkey for 15-minute deliveries. Today, while other quick commerce ventures are no longer active, Delivery Hero operates a portfolio of 11 quick commerce brands over 60 countries.
Now, Delivery Hero is moving from being solely a food delivery platform to an EverydayApp, offering more verticals such as household essentials and health and beauty to meet more customer needs on a single platform — and, ultimately, drive revenue.
For Alex, Delivery Hero’s international team and outlook represent HV’s thesis that “entrepreneurial talent knows no borders.”
“We have German heritage but we back founders in Europe, in New York, in Rio,” he says.
:format(webp))
Alexander Joël-Carbonell
Partner, HV
:format(webp))
:format(webp))
:format(webp))