London-based food-delivery startup Deliveroo Singapore, following its parent being served up US$275 million in series-E funding, will launch the RooBox “remote kitchen” initiative in Singapore.

Deliveroo Singapore GM Tristan Torres describes it as a game-changer for food delivery.

Singapore will next month become Deliveroo’s first market outside of London to have RooBox, which enables restaurants to set up “delivery-only” kitchens in new locations. At the moment, the 1600 Deliveroo Singapore restaurants only service consumers who live or work in their area.

“RooBox will allow consumers in areas with a poor supply of good restaurants to expand their options, and let restaurants access zones where they don’t have a presence,” says Torres.

Five restaurants have signed up already, and each will run an independent kitchen in a new “big space” in the east. Torres says it is a joint investment between Deliveroo and the restaurants.

He says Deliveroo is the first food-delivery company to hire cyclists, who can help to reduce pollution and are more efficient in such areas as the CBD.

About 25 cyclists and 1200 drivers have signed up with Deliveroo Singapore.

Deliveroo raised its latest financing from investors Bridgepoint, DST Global, General Catalyst, Greenoaks Capital and Hermes GPE. It plans to use the money to “consolidate its market leader position” in all of its 84 markets, expand in the Asia-Pacific and further innovate.

Meanwhile, food-delivery services have consolidated in Singapore. In 2013, Berlin-based Foodpanda merged with Singapore Dine, and last year it acquired Food Runner.

Deliveroo launched last November, and Torres says it has been winning users at a week-on-week growth rate of 25 per cent with its curated list of restaurants and 32-minute average delivery time.