Amazon News: Company-Backed Deliveroo Food Delivery Service To End Operations In Germany

British food delivery service Deliveroo, which is financially supported by American e-commerce giant Amazon, announced Monday that it is going to leave the German market on Aug. 16.

The company said it is going to focus on "growing our operations in other markets around the world," such as other countries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The company operates in 13 countries.

Amazon has a big stake in the company, having invested $575 million in the food delivery service earlier this year.

Deliveroo allows customers to order food from local restaurants in their area, with the deliveries being conducted by bicycle.

In Germany, Deliveroo had 1,100 freelance delivery bike riders and around 100 employees. The company launched operations in Germany in 2015 and currently delivers from around 2,000 restaurants.

Deliveroo said it will give its delivery riders a "one-off goodwill payment" equivalent of 10 days' pay and a second payment of two weeks' pay due to the short notice. Deliveroo has not ruled out a possible return to the German market in the future.

"We want to thank all of the riders and restaurants who worked with Deliveroo in Germany, as well as our wonderful customers," a Deliveroo spokesperson said in an email. "It has been an honor to serve so many amazing people from Germany's many great restaurants and to work with so many brilliant, hard-working riders."

Deliveroo's main competitor in Germany is Lieferando, whose name comes from the German verb "liefern," which means "to deliver." Lieferando is the most popular food delivery service in Germany and is owned by Dutch-based company Takeaway.com, which operates in nine European countries plus Vietnam.

In December, Takeaway.com acquired the Pizza.de and Foodora delivery services in Germany. This means that Takeaway.com services virtually dominate the German food delivery market, especially with Deliveroo now leaving.

Deliveroo was founded in 2013 in London by Americans Will Shu and Greg Orlowski. Earlier this month, Deliveroo acquired Cultivate, a Scotland-based software and user experience design company.