Deliveroo set to become unicorn with $385m investment

Deliveroo has secured $385m (£285.3m) in new funding from two US firms.

Stateside investors Fidelity and T. Rowe Price have agreed to put money into the UK-based start-up as part of a deal which values the company at over $2bn (£1.48bn), according to Sky News.

The investment means rumours of a Deliveroo IPO are likely to gather pace, given that the funds previously invested in Facebook and Snapchat before the companies went public.

This means the company will finally be able to claim the crown of being a “unicorn”, the term used to refer to companies valued at more than US $1bn.

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JP Morgan Chase is understood to have overseen the financing.

It follows the revelation in Deliveroo’s company accounts that sales rocket by more than 600 per cent last year, based on working with more than 25,000 restaurants.

But losses jumped from £30m £129m.

The news comes as fellow gig economy giant Uber was told by TfL that its London licence would not be renewed.

Following the news yesterday, shares in another delivery service Just Eat jumped slightly closing up 0.88 per cent, with rumours floating that the decision would affect Uber’s Uber Eats food delivery arm.

But the TfL ruling in fact only applied to Uber’s taxi service.

Read more: Sadiq Khan: Londoners should direct anger at Uber