Dutch food delivery company Takeaway.com is going public at a €1 billion valuation
Dutch food delivery company Takeaway.com is gearing up to go public later this month, announcing its share price range and IPO prospectus on Monday.
It is giving a price range for its shares of between €20.5 to €26.5 - with a post-IPO market cap of between €904 million and €1.1 billion (which works out as $1.2 billion, or £940 million).
The listing is expected to take place on September 30, and if a success, will confer "unicorn" status on Takeaway.com - a term for tech startups and companies with a valuation of $1 billion-plus. (Sidenote: Qualification is generally measured in US dollars, even for European companies.)
The food delivery market is incredibly hot right now. Uber is expanding internationally with its UberEats service, while London company Deliveroo raised a huge $275 million (£209 million) funding round from VC investors in August.
Meanwhile, Just Eat and Takeaway.com have sold a number of local businesses to one another in various markets, in an apparent attempt to avoid additional competition. And Delivery Hero, a German-based food delivery company, has recently taken out a big eight-digit loan. (Just Eat and Deliveroo have also both recently had rebrands to spruce up their image.)
It looks like the shake-out in the industry is already beginning: Two-year-old Pronto shut down earlier in September, and in July Belgian startup Take Eat Easy also closed its doors.
We've known this IPO was on the cards for a while. Back in April 2016, Bloomberg reported the company is considering an IPO with a valuation of €1 billion. Takeaway.com won't be the Netherlands' first unicorn, either - there's also payments company Ayden, that raised $250 million (£192 million) back in 2014 at a $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion) valuation.
In a statement, CEO Jitse Groen said: "We are pleased to announce the launch of our IPO today as this is an important next step forward for us in realizing our future growth potential and we have completed all preparations for becoming a listed company. The level of interest we have seen in the investment community so far is very encouraging. We are excited to meet prospective investors and share with them our thoughts on how to further expand our market leadership positions."
Takeaway.com claims to be the largest single food delivery company as measured by number of restaurants and orders, receiving 34 million orders from 6.8 million customers in 2015 - bringing in revenues of €77 million (£66 million).