Amazon delivers $ 575 million investment round for the delivery company Deliveroo

Amazon is leading a $ 575 million funding round for Deliveroo, taking the total food delivery program to date up to $ 1.53 billion.

Others participating in the funding round include existing investors T. Rowe Price, Fidelity Management, and Greenoaks.

Deliveroo is a UK company that allows users to order food deliveries from nearby restaurants using an app. Its UK rivals include Uber Eats and Just Eat, but the company operates across 14 markets including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong and UAE .

Deliveroo said in a press release on Friday that it would use the funding to expand its engineering team in its London headquarters and expand its scope of supply to offer its service to new customers. Deliveroo founder and CEO Will Shu said in the press release that the new investment would offer restaurants new opportunities to grow and expand their businesses.

"Amazon has been an inspiration to me personally and to the company, and we look forward to working with such a customer-occupied organization," he said. "This is good news for the technology and restaurant industry, and it will help create jobs in all the countries we operate."

In December, Deliveroo, which grew 1[ads1]16% globally in 2017, opened its first brick and mortar restaurant in Hong Kong. Deliveroo Food Market serves as a kitchen for delivering online orders, as well as a consumer-oriented retail front where consumers can choose from 15 dining concepts.

At that time, the company said it would expand the concept globally if all went well, but it was already planning to open a second position in Singapore this year.

British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported late last year that Deliveroo is looking at a 2020 IPO and rumors that a Uber takeover agreement was in the works.

However, the company has encountered similar problems to Uber in terms of feelings among its employees. In June last year, a group of 50 UK workers won a six figure payment from Deliveroo in a settlement of an employment claim. The claim claimed that the riders were denied rights as a legal minimum wage after being given contractor status rather than being classified as workers.

In December, the tide in Deliveroos favored when it won the case in Britain's High Court, which rejected claims [19659000]