3. Deliveroo

Founders: William Shu and Greg Orlowski
Founded: August 2012 (launched February 2013)
Website: https://deliveroo.co.uk/

Want to achieve fast-growth? Take inspiration from Deliveroo which has secured third place in our 2015 index.

In just over two years, the innovative food delivery start-up has scaled to 93 employees, signed up over 1,500 clients and fed the bellies of over 100,000 customers – and that’s not forgetting its recent £16.5m Series B Index Ventures funding round.

Founded by 2014 Young Guns William Shu and Greg Orlowski, Deliveroo (formerly known as Roo Foods) is a managed delivery platform for high-end restaurant chains, delivering food from the likes of Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Nando’s and Tossed to your home or office.

A simple concept; “food you love delivered to your door” in around half an hour, the company has already achieved multi-million revenues and expanded from its London territory to two of Europe’s “biggest foodie capitals”; Paris and Berlin.

Further expansion is also on the cards with the company set to launch in new markets in Europe and the Middle East imminently, while in the UK Shu and Orlowski have plans to roll-out the service in 25 additional towns and cities by the end of 2015.

Given its early success, it’s hardly surprising that Forbes recently identified the company as “one of the world’s next billion dollar start-ups” and we would have to agree. Deliveroo has all the makings to become Europe’s next unicorn and we wouldn’t be surprised if it follows in the footsteps of Just Eat with an IPO-listing no doubt on the horizon.