ONLINE MEAL-ORDERING company Just-Eat has raised £10.5 million (€12.1 million) in finance.

Venture capital firm Index Ventures is the main investor, with Venrex Investment Management and existing shareholders also participating in the refinancing.

According to the company, the capital will be used to consolidate the company’s position in Britain and Ireland, and to expand across Europe.

Founded in 2001 in Denmark, Just-Eat was one of the first companies to invest in online takeaway-food ordering. The company has operations in Ireland, Denmark, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. It has more than 6,000 restaurants in its online database, with 310 in Ireland.

It claims the European home-delivery food market is growing at 9 per cent annually.

Managing director of the Irish business James Galvin says the Irish restaurants included in its database have seen a jump in takeaway requests in the last six months. “It seems more that staying in is the new going out.”

The company opened in Ireland in May 2008. It employs 10 people in Dublin, and intends to double that figure over the next year.