Deliveroo to add 300 UK tech jobs in new London office

Deliveroo has said it will increase its staff by a third when it opens a new London head office later this year.

The UK-based food delivery company is the latest tech firm to expand in the capital, planning to hire more than 300 "high-skilled, high-tech" recruits.

Deliveroo reported a 650% rise in takeaway orders last year.

But as it adds more office staff, the firm is coming under growing pressure to give its freelance delivery riders more workers' rights.

A group of Deliveroo couriers working for the company is seeking union recognition.

And it comes after two drivers for the Uber taxi-hailing company won a tribunal case in which they argued they were workers not contractors.

The four-year-old company employs more than 1,000 full-time staff and works with over 20,000 restaurants in 130 cities around the world.

"London is where I founded this company and it's from our headquarters here that we export our British-born technology around the world," said founder and chief executive Will Shu.

Deliveroo has continued to report "rapid" growth in the UK and around the world, despite competing in a crowded marketplace that includes the likes of Uber, Amazon and JustEat, .

The firm has declined to break down its sales figures, although its latest accounts revealed a £18.1m loss in 2015.

The recruitment drive includes in areas such as software engineering and algorithm development.

It comes a week after Snap, the company behind messaging app Snapchat, said it had established its non-US office in London.

In November, Facebook said it would hire 500 additional employees in London, and Google committed to opening a new headquarters building in the English capital, which could see 3,000 new jobs created by 2020.