Competition watchdog to examine Amazon's investment in Deliveroo

The e-commerce company led a £470m funding round for the aggregator.

Britain's competition watchdog has launched a formal investigation into Amazon’s investment in Deliveroo, further delaying the tie-up between the two tech companies.

Amazon led a US$575m (£470m) funding round for Deliveroo last May, but was forced to put the payment on hold due to concerns the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had over the relationship between the two entities.

In the event CMA decides that the deal is anti-competitive, it is expected to launch what they call a  "phase 2" probe that would likely halt the deal or force Amazon or Deliveroo to divest parts of their business. The watchdog said it will decide on a phase 2 investigation in December.