Deliveroo history and timeline: How Will Shu built the $2 billion firm

Food delivery startup Deliveroo is one of the UK's hottest and most valuable startups, worth at least $2 billion and probably more after Amazon's $575 million investment.Business Insider understands the company had been hoping for a new valuation of at least $4 billion.Deliveroo was started by Will Shu, a former banking analyst who hated the lack of options available when he had to eat at his desk.Uber had previously been in early talks to buy Deliveroo but that did not pan out.Here is the story of how Will Shu built Deliveroo.Read more stories on Business Insider's home page.On face value, anyone could have come up with the concept. An app which brings you food whenever and wherever you want it？ It's the kind of thing any irate worker eating a squashed sandwich at their desk could dream up.Will Shu, the American cofounder and CEO of Deliveroo, knows this. He told the “i” newspaper in 2017 that the idea was “not complicated ... anyone can have it.”But it was Shu and his cofounder Greg Orlowski who turned the desk dream into a reality in 2013, thanks to a ruthless focus on making food delivery as seamless as possible. Today, his simple idea has been rewarded with a $575 million investment from Amazon.The Deliveroo app offers takeaway food from thousands of restaurants, many of which never offered delivery services before the startup came along. The eventual goal isn't just to make takeaway easier, but to kill off home cooking for most people altogether.The startup has revolutionised food delivery. It was worth $2 billion prior to the Amazon deal, and is was once in talks to sell to Uber for billions of dollars. The Amazon deal probably puts its valuation north of $2 billion.The road hasn't been easy, and Shu & Co. have had to contend with thorny issues such as workers' rights for the thousands of freelance drivers who deliver food and don't have access to benefits.Here is the story of Deliveroo's story of success.