Deliveroo, one of Europe’s fastest-growing technology companies, has acquired Edinburgh-based software design and development firm Cultivate. Deliveroo will use the acquisition of Cultivate, who have already built a world-class reputation in software development, to create a tech hub in Edinburgh, the company’s first UK tech office outside of its London HQ.
Deliveroo and Cultivate have established a strong relationship in recent years, with the Scottish tech consultancy helping to build the payments systems which handle the millions of transactions the food delivery giant’s marketplace oversees every day. This acquisition will bring future benefits to riders and restaurants:
- Improving the payments experience for riders and restaurants. Deliveroo and Cultivate will seek to develop new ways to improve payment processes to riders and restaurants, building on Deliveroo’s ‘Cash Out’ feature which allows riders to access their earnings immediately.
- Data and planning. Deliveroo will seek to give riders and restaurants more information on how they are earning through the platform, so they can both better manage their finances.
- Financial support and new services. Deliveroo and Cultivate will be working to develop new ways to offer financial support, for example to help riders save and help restaurants manage their cash flow.
Deliveroo is proud to be a British tech success story, and this acquisition demonstrates the company’s commitment to creating jobs across the UK. Deliveroo will initially double headcount in the next 12 months in Edinburgh and is aiming to house 50 highly-skilled tech jobs in the new Scottish office within three years, more than trebling the current workforce. Deliveroo’s new tech hub will be made up of engineers, product managers, user researchers, designers and data scientists and will grow in the years to come. This will help to further develop Edinburgh’s burgeoning tech ecosystem.
Deliveroo will continue to back the community initiatives that Cultivate already supports, including Prewired, which helps young people learn to code, and codebar, who support underrepresented groups develop software engineering skills.
Deliveroo has also committed to being a main sponsor at this year’s Turing Fest, Scotland’s largest tech festival, taking place at the EICC in Edinburgh (August 27-29 2019). Jonny Brooks-Bartlett, a Data Scientist from Deliveroo’s London team will also be speaking at the event.
Commenting on the deal, Dan Winn, Deliveroo VP of Engineering, said:
“As a British company, Deliveroo is proud to be investing in Edinburgh and creating more high skilled jobs in the UK. Edinburgh is one of the UK’s fastest growing tech hubs, with access to an excellent talent pool of highly skilled people and university graduates. Deliveroo is committed to offering riders flexible, well-paid work and helping restaurants to grow their businesses. Building on Cultivate’s expertise, we are excited to create new products and services that will help us achieve this.”
Cultivate’s Chief Commercial Officer Andy Robinson, who becomes Deliveroo’s Site Lead in Edinburgh, said:
“We have a fantastic relationship with Deliveroo, supporting them through an amazing period of growth. We were attracted by the array of interesting problems being tackled by their team, and how they are addressing them using modern and emerging technology. We’re proud to have built such a great team here in Edinburgh, and today’s announcement is a testament to their hard work and expertise in building world-class software. We are excited to continue this work, create highly skilled jobs, and build a centre of tech excellence here in Edinburgh.” –
Stephen Coleman OBE, CEO of CodeBase, Scotland’s largest tech campus and home to Cultivate, said:
“Cultivate have always been at the centre of the tech scene in Edinburgh and have supported events and initiatives across the board. We are really pleased for the Cultivate team and Deliveroo’s plans to grow here in Scotland and are looking forward to having one of Europe’s top tech companies based here at CodeBase.”
Cultivate is an Edinburgh-based software design and development consultancy. They specialise in delivering high-quality custom software applications, user experience, visual design and business strategy to clients across the UK and internationally. Cultivate have supported a range of enterprise, startup and government organisations in recent years, including the Government Digital Service, General Electric and Scottish tech success stories Aquila Insight and Care Sourcer. Cultivate’s team previously worked alongside renowned Neo Innovation luminaries Eric Ries (author of Lean Startup) and Jeff Gothelf (author of Lean UX). Visit https://cultivatehq.com/
Deliveroo is an award-winning delivery service founded in 2013 by William Shu and Greg Orlowski. Deliveroo works with over 80,000 best-loved restaurants and takeaways, as well as 60,000 riders to provide the best food delivery experience in the world. Deliveroo is headquartered in London, with 2,500 employees in offices around the globe. Deliveroo operates in over 500 towns and cities across 14 markets, including Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the United Kingdom.
Deliveroo is one of the UK’s leading tech unicorns and a British tech success story. Its investment in world-leading proprietary technology yields substantial benefits for customers, restaurants and riders. The Frank algorithm – which finds the optimal way to deliver food from restaurant to customer – has cut the average delivery time by nearly 20%, significantly reducing customer wait times. Frank’s machine-learning capabilities improves the allocation of orders and reduces restaurant waiting times for riders, helping them to earn higher fees without riding longer hours. And Deliveroo’s innovative products and tools give restaurants unique insights into their customer base, allows them to provide in-app offers to customers and improves their efficiency when preparing meals. Visit https://deliveroo.co.uk/