Deliveroo is to create a tech hub in Edinburgh after acquiring capital software designer Cultivate.
The office at digital incubator Codebase will be the food delivery app giant’s first UK tech base outside London. It intends to employ 50 highly skilled workers there.
Cultivate has worked with Deliveroo for several years and helped to build the payments systems which handles millions of transactions a day.
The takeover is expected to make the payments system slicker for riders and restaurants, building on the ‘Cash Out’ feature which allows riders to access earnings immediately. Deliveroo also will aim to help riders and restaurants manage their finances by giving more information on how they are earning and advise on how to save and manage cash flow.
Deliveroo’s VP of engineering Dan Winn 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 was formed in 2014 out of Edinburgh product design studio Neo. General Electric, JP Morgan, The North Face and the UK Government are among its clients.
London-based Deliveroo was founded in 2013 and works with more than 80,000 restaurants and takeaways, using 60,000 delivery riders. It has 2,500 employees worldwide and operates in over 500 towns and cities across 14 markets.
The firm is expanding quickly with plans to move in to 50 more towns and cities across the UK. This month it also launched a delivery service whereby restaurants can order ingredients and other supplies via the app. In May, it confirmed that Amazon was backing a £450 million funding round in Deliveroo along with other investors.
Under the takeover, Cultivate’s chief commercial Officer Andy Robinson becomes Deliveroo’s site lead in Edinburgh.
He 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, 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.”
Deliveroo has also committed to being a main sponsor at Turing Fest, Scotland’s largest tech festival at the EICC in Edinburgh from August 27-29. Jonny Brooks-Bartlett, a data scientist from Deliveroo’s London team will also be speaking at the event.
