- November 16, 2011

Delivery Hero and Lieferheld receive financial backing of 8 million euros

By Magdalena Räth

The online food delivery platforms Lieferheld and Delivery Hero, founded by the Berlin-based start-up incubator Team Europe (also a shareholder of VentureVillage), today announced a finance deal of 8 million euros. The financing round was led by Moscow-based investors Ru-Net and Kite Ventures; Team Europe and Point Nine Capital acted as co-investors. With the young Delivery Hero Holding on its way to exploring further global markets, Team Europe aims to invest the money into the company’s international growth.

A multi-million euro investment into Lieferheld and Delivery Hero

Lieferheld and Delivery Hero, the international online platforms founded by Team Europe, have received an 8 million euro fund from a financing round provided by ru-Net, Kite Ventures, Team Europe and Point Nine Capital. Following this round, the total finance figure of the two platforms amounted to 15 million euros – since Lieferheld’s inception twelve months ago. Tengelmann E-Commerce led the previous financing round, while Team Europe, Point Nine Capital and Holtzbrinck Ventures acted as co-investors.

Team Europe has already worked with Kite Ventures on several deals in the past, including SponsorPay and Digitale Seiten. Edward Shenderovic, co-founder and partner of Kite Ventures, said: “We love the model and the management team and have very good past experience with Team Europe. Therefore we decided not only to invest ourselves, but also to bring our trusted partner Ru-Net on board.”

Lieferheld and Delivery Hero bundle thousands of food delivery services online. Via the platforms, meals are ordered online by customers and delivered to their homes. The restaurants receive the orders via fax or computer, for which the platform receives a commission. Lieferheld was founded by Berlin-based incubator Team Europe in October 2010. Shortly after the launch, Internet entrepreneur Fabian Siegel joined as CEO and guided the company into becoming one of Germany’s leading online food delivery platforms.

An investmentment in Delivery Hero Holding’s international growth

Encouraged by the success in Germany, Delivery Hero Holding was launched in the summer of this year as an international expansion of the business. Internet entrepreneur Niklas Oestberg, who was previously Managing Director at Onlinepizza.se in Sweden, is heading up the globalization. “I still remember the first time we met at the rooftop of Berlin’s Soho House like it was yesterday,” says Kolja Hebenstreit, co-founder and partner at Team Europe. “I was extremely impressed and wanted to start work with him on the spot.” Under Oestberg’s reign, Delivery Hero has already launched platforms in Australia and Russia, and aims to launch four more international markets by the end of this year, and three more in 2012.

“The fast ramp up in Germany and rapid international expansion is quite capital-intensive,” says Lukasz Gadowski, co-founder and partner of Team Europe. “It is therefore extremely important for us to have the right investors, who not only understand the Internet and the dynamic of our specific model but also have enough trust and courage to back us with substantial capital at such an early stage – while keeping reserves for future financings.” According to Kite Ventures’ Edward Shenderovic, the delivery service aggregators “had better ‘deliver’”.

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