Tech: Delivery Hero revenue soared 66% to €246.5 million during the first half of 2017

But the company won't be profitable until 2019, according to CEO Niklas Östberg.

Delivery Hero, the Berlin-headquartered takeaway delivery startup, announced on Tuesday that its revenues rose to €246.5 million (£216 million) during the first half of 2017.

That's a 66% increase on the same time last year. Margins on core earnings narrowed to a loss of 18% from a loss of 47% in the same period a year ago.

Delivery Hero CEO Niklas Östberg told journalists on a media call: "I think this was a very strong result that further strengthens our company."

He added that he expects Delivery Hero's full year revenues to come in at €530 million (£465 million) to €540 million (£474 million).

Delivery Hero operates in more than 40 countries in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It went public in June and shares are 30% up on its IPO price.

Östberg told Business Insider that he expects Delivery Hero to break even in 2018 and be profitable by 2019.

"That's what we feel committed to do. We've proven in the past we can make profit very easily but we're continuing to invest. For us it's more of an input variable than an output variable."

Delivery Hero's promising results come two days after rival Deliveroo announced that it has raised $385 million (£285 million) in funding, valuing it at over $2 billion (£1.4 billion). The two lead investors were US equity funds that invested in companies like Facebook and Snap before their IPOs.

But the company won't be profitable until 2019, according to CEO Niklas Östberg. Read Full Story