Delivery Hero sets €4.4bn valuation as it prepares to battle Amazon and Uber

Delivery Hero plans to raise nearly €1bn ($1.1bn, £874m) from its public flotation later this month, valuing the online food takeaway start-up at €4.4bn.

The Berlin-based business said it will sell up to 39 million shares, priced between €22-€25.50 on the Frankfurt stock exchange, raising €996m at the upper end of the valuation.

The firm co-founded in 2011 by chief executive Niklas Östberg operates in over 40 countries in Europe, Asia and the US and has deals with 150,000 restaurants.

It sells its online ordering platform service to takeaway restaurants and competes with rivals such as UK-listed Just Eat.

Delivery Hero, which employs 6,000 staff worldwide, runs a variety of brands including Lieferheld, Foodora and Foodpanda, allowing customers to order online from a wide variety of outlets.

Deliveries are then arranged by the individual restaurant, or else the group or brings the food to customers' homes by bicycle. The firm expects trading to begin on the Frankfurt stock exchange on 30 June.

This is the fourth float by a major online food delivery firm in recent years, following initial public offerings by GrubHub in the US, Just Eat in London and Takeaway.com in the Netherlands.

Large newer US rivals include Amazon, which is expanding its Amazon Fresh same-day grocery delivery offering, and Uber's food-on-wheels service Uber Eats.

This sector is characterised by tough competition, with rivals spending large sums on advertising in a bid to dominate the market in a country.