Delivery Hero SE is one of the world's largest local delivery platforms, headquartered in Berlin and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as a DAX constituent.
Founded in 2011 by Niklas Oestberg and Lukasz Gadowski, the company operates a portfolio of more than seventy consumer-facing brands including Foodpanda, Glovo, Talabat, PedidosYa and Yemeksepeti across Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa.
The group provides restaurant food delivery, grocery q-commerce through its Dmart dark-store network, and courier logistics services for third-party retailers.
Delivery Hero converted from a German stock corporation (AG) to a Societas Europaea (SE) in 2017 to reflect its pan-European reach and to simplify cross-border mergers, allowing the parent entity to absorb subsidiaries in other EU member states without dissolution.
The company went public in June 2017, raising roughly 996 million euros, and later acquired Woowa Brothers (Baemin) of South Korea in 2021 in one of the largest internet-sector deals in European history. Berlin remains the group's strategic, financial and technology hub.
Delivery Hero's legal-structure story is one of the clearest case studies in why Berlin-born tech groups reach for the Societas Europaea form. The company launched as a GmbH, converted to a German AG ahead of its 2017 IPO, and then re-registered as an SE within months of listing. The SE gave Delivery Hero three practical benefits that matter for any operator planning multi-jurisdictional expansion from Germany.
First, it allowed cross-border mergers with subsidiaries across the EU without triggering liquidation, which would have been punishing given acquisitions of Foodora (Finland), Yemeksepeti (Turkey via an EU holding), PedidosYa (Spanish-registered until relocation) and Glovo (Spain).
Second, the SE can choose between a one-tier or two-tier board system; Delivery Hero retained the German two-tier model with a management board and supervisory board, but the option matters for companies with Anglo-American investors. Third, SE status permits relocating the registered seat between EU member states without winding up, a real option for groups that may need to flee regulatory pressure.
The company has also used Luxembourg and Dutch intermediate holdings for specific acquisitions, reflecting a common Berlin pattern in which the operating brain sits in Mitte while tax-efficient holding vehicles sit abroad.
Rocket Internet, the Berlin incubator that shaped Zalando, HelloFresh and Jumia, held an early stake in Delivery Hero before exit, continuing the pattern of Samwer-orbit companies going from Rocket incubation to Frankfurt listing to SE conversion.
Founders building a cross-border delivery, marketplace or platform business out of Berlin should study the Delivery Hero template closely: start as a GmbH for simplicity, convert to AG only when IPO is realistic, and consider SE status if meaningful share of revenue comes from EU subsidiaries that you expect to merge into the parent later.
The SE form was adopted shortly after the 2017 IPO specifically to simplify cross-border mergers of EU subsidiaries into the Berlin parent without triggering liquidation, dissolution or asset-deal taxation.
Because Delivery Hero operates in dozens of countries through locally incorporated subsidiaries, the SE also offers the option to relocate the registered seat between EU member states without winding up, and allows a choice between one-tier and two-tier board governance.
The registered seat and operational headquarters are in Berlin, registered at the Amtsgericht Charlottenburg Handelsregister under number HRB 198015 B. However, Delivery Hero uses Luxembourg and Dutch intermediate holding companies for specific investments and treasury purposes, which is common among Berlin-listed tech groups.
The parent SE itself is a German SE, not a Luxembourg entity, and is subject to German corporate tax at the group level.
Under Council Regulation 2157/2001, a Societas Europaea requires minimum subscribed capital of 120,000 euros, which is higher than the 50,000 euros required for a German AG and substantially higher than the 25,000 euros for a GmbH. The capital must be fully subscribed at formation although payment timing rules mirror national AG law. Delivery Hero's issued capital is in the hundreds of millions given its listing.
Generally not, and it would not be advisable. SE formation requires a pre-existing corporate structure such as an AG being converted, or a merger of two public companies from different member states, or a qualifying subsidiary relationship for at least two years.
Founders should start with a Berlin GmbH, convert to AG when IPO becomes realistic, then consider SE conversion only if meaningful EU subsidiary consolidation or seat-relocation optionality is needed.
