Deliveroo buys Cultivate to create Edinburgh tech hub

Andy Robinson (chief commercial officer, Cultivate), Dan Winn (VP of engineering, Deliveroo) and Paul Wilson (managing director, Cultivate)

Deliveroo said it acquired Edinburgh-based software design and development firm Cultivate to create a tech hub in Edinburgh, Deliveroo’s first UK tech office outside of its London HQ.

“Deliveroo and Cultivate have established a strong relationship in recent years, with the Scottish tech consultancy helping to build the payments systems which handle the millions of transactions the food delivery giant’s marketplace oversees every day,” said Deliveroo.

“Deliveroo will initially double headcount in the next 12 months in Edinburgh and is aiming to house 50 highly-skilled tech jobs in the new Scottish office within three years, more than trebling the current workforce.

“Deliveroo’s new tech hub will be made up of engineers, product managers, user researchers, designers and data scientists and will grow in the years to come.

“This will help to further develop Edinburgh’s burgeoning tech ecosystem.”

Dan Winn, Deliveroo VP of engineering, 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’s chief commercial officer Andy Robinson, who becomes Deliveroo’s site lead in Edinburgh, 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.”

CodeBase CEO Stephen Coleman 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.”