Takeaway. com is likely to become Europe's latest unicorn after the online food ordering service said it would float with a market capitalisation of between €904 million and €1.1 billion.

The Amsterdam-based group set an indicative price range of €20.50 to €26.50 a share, generating net proceeds of €175 million to fund its expansion in Germany, where it is in a fierce battle for market share with rival Delivery Hero.

If the float succeeds, Takeaway.com will join a small but growing group of European “unicorns”, technology businesses worth more than $1 billion (€895 million).

Takeaway.com will spend roughly €40 million on bulking up its German business, where it is trying to maintain its position as the largest provider in the country.

Although the group is highly profitable in its home market of the Netherlands, where it enjoys an operating margin of more than 60 per cent, it is lossmaking overall, thanks in the main to Germany. The group posted a €13.8 million loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from revenues of €77 million in 2015.

Winner takes all

Online takeaway ordering can be a winner-takes-all-market, with companies desperate to entrench themselves as the leader in each country, resulting in an often brief but brutal fight between rivals. Earlier this year the chief executive of Delivery Hero labelled the German market a “bloodbath”.

Another €22.5 million will be used to pay off the acquisition of Just Eat’s business in the Netherlands and Belgium, which the two rivals agreed earlier this year. A final €20 million will be spent repaying loans, with the remainder kept on hand for further marketing spend or even more acquisitions.

Jitse Groen, Takeaway.com’s chief executive who founded the company in 2000 and will maintain 95 per cent of his shareholding, said: “The level of interest we have seen in the investment community so far is very encouraging.”

– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016)