Amazon takes stake in food delivery firm

Amazon i s i nvesting i n British meal delivery company Deliveroo, expanding its global reach into food retailing.

Deliveroo said it raised $ 575 million (£ 451m) from a number of investors led by Amazon. Amazon will become Deliveroo’s largest investor, though it did not disclose how much Amazon put in or how large a stake it acquired.

Deliveroo was founded in 2013 and has become one of the main so- called gig economy companies in Britain, with its brand visible on delivery scooters and bicycles around the country.

The company says it has about 60,000 riders delive r i n g f o o d f r o m s o me 80,000 restaurants in 14 countries.

Like other gig economy companies such as private hire taxi app Uber, Delivero o has r un i nto legal tussles over whether its riders count as employees and should get work b e n e f i t s . Whi l e s o me workers would want the l egal s t atus of employee, with more fixed hours and greater benefits, others like the flexibilit y to decide when and how long to work.

I n May, Britain’s High Court ruled that Deliveroo riders do not in fact have the right to collective bargaining, by which t hey negotiate pay, hours and vacation time as a group of employees.