Before Deliveroo serviced harried office workers around the world, it was just one man and a bike. In 2004, investment banker Will Shu had transferred from New York to London, where he immediately noticed a lack of high-quality food delivery options compared to the US. When mobile technology took off in the late noughties, he teamed up with friend and software engineer, Greg Orlowski, to co-found Deliveroo from Shu’s flat in Chelsea, becoming the start-up’s first ever delivery driver in 2013.

Before our eyes, the app’s signature teal jackets and kangaroo logos started flooding the streets – not just in London and the UK, but also across countries like France, Singapore, and Belgium. As major high-street chains signed up, Deliveroo’s revenue shot up and by 2017 it had become a unicorn.

In 2021, Deliveroo listed on the London Stock Exchange with a massive valuation of £7.6bn. It was a rockier milestone than most (shares dipped 26 per cent on the first day due to concerns over driver’s rights) but the listing firmly established Deliveroo as a market heavyweight. So much so that last year, US takeaway giant DoorDash offered to buy Deliveroo for a massive £2.9bn – a 44 per cent premium over Deliveroo's standalone stock price at the time. Shu sold up, sending Deliveroo to the US delivery market that first inspired it.

Having officially stepped down from the company in October 2025, Shu is no longer actively involved with Deliveroo today. He’s resting up and contemplating his next challenge after making his hardest delivery yet – a multi-billion-pound global empire that has forever changed the face of delivery.