Data spotlight: In spite of Brexit, UK’s Deliveroo leads all European deals in August

Roofoods, the London-based food-delivery service operating in 12 European countries as Deliveroo, raised about €248 million ($275 million) in fresh funding from new and current venture backers in August.

The Series E round was the largest European deal in August and helped the United Kingdom lead the Continent in venture capital raised by companies in the month, according to a VCJ analysis of preliminary data from Thomson Reuters.

The Deliveroo round was led by Bridgepoint Advisers, with DST Global, General Catalyst and Greenoaks Capital also taking part.

The company has now raised about $486 million in total funding. Deliveroo said the funding will go toward international expansion.

Deliveroo’s large funding is noteworthy since it comes less than two months after Brexit, Britain’s late-June vote to leave the European Union.

In the wake of Brexit, many observers expected capital flows to pause as investors thought twice before investing in British startups. The thinking went that after the vote, pricing might be better in other countries and Britain’s companies might find attracting talent difficult.

But in August, the United Kingdom led all European countries in the amount raised, as 13 U.K.-based companies raised a little more than €361 million ($404 million) in venture capital. Deliveroo accounted for nearly 70 percent of the total.

Germany saw 23 companies raise €92 million ($103 million) in August, the second most of any country. The Netherlands was the third most active, as six deals raised €26.45 million ($30 million) in financing.

In all, 60 European companies raised more than €519 million ($580 million) in VC financing in the month, compared with 73 companies raising about €450 million ($503 million) in July, according to Thomson Reuters. The figures reflect a month-over-month decline of 18 percent in the number of startups and a 15 percent rise in funding.

Downloadable Data: European VC-backed deals (August 2016)

Photo of a Deliveroo worker in London courtesy of Reuters/Neil Hall