Zomato gets $660 million in new round – Times of India
[ad_1]
BENGALURU: Online food delivery major Zomato has closed a $660-million financing round which now values the company at $3.9 billion. This fund-raise comes to a close after more than a year since Zomato kicked off the exercise. It is planning to go for an initial public offering (IPO) next year.
Zomato co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal tweeted Friday night that 10 new investors have joined the funding round and it includes Tiger Global, Kora Capital, Luxor, Fidelity Management and Research, D1 Capital, Baillie Gifford, Mirae, and Steadview.
The fund-raise was initially expected to be around $600 million. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, an existing investor, had invested in the Gurgaon-based company earlier this year as part of the round. This was followed by new investor Tiger Global putting around $100 million.
China’s Alibaba group affiliate Ant Group had committed to invest $150 million, but only a third of it had come to the company before the border tension started between India and China. Following that, Ant Group in its regulatory filing for its now-suspended IPO had said it was reviewing its investment in Zomato due to India changing foreign investment rules.
Since then, Zomato hasn’t commented on its investment commitment from Ant Group.
Goyal said the company is conducting a secondary transaction of $140 million. “As part of this transaction, we have already provided liquidity worth $30 million to our ex-employees,” he tweeted. Goyal’s tweets also said he is expecting this December to be its ‘highest ever GMV (gross merchandise value) month’ .
“We are now clocking 25% higher GMV than our previous peaks in February 2020,” Goyal tweeted. Online food delivery was one of the most-hit categories by the virus outbreak. During the initial months of the lockdown, order volumes had taken a severe hit, but it saw a gradual recovery over the subsequent months. In May, Zomato fired around 520 people to battle the pandemic’s impact on its business.
“The tailwinds for food delivery businesses are clearly visible, and we believe that the growth of the sector will accelerate post vaccine,” added Goyal.
Zomato hasn’t said how it wants to use the capital but in a note to staff in September, Goyal had told them this would be used as a ‘war-chest’ for future mergers and acquisitions and fighting off potential price wars from its rivals. While Bengaluru-based Swiggy is its biggest rival, Amazon recently entered the business.
Zomato co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal tweeted Friday night that 10 new investors have joined the funding round and it includes Tiger Global, Kora Capital, Luxor, Fidelity Management and Research, D1 Capital, Baillie Gifford, Mirae, and Steadview.
The fund-raise was initially expected to be around $600 million. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, an existing investor, had invested in the Gurgaon-based company earlier this year as part of the round. This was followed by new investor Tiger Global putting around $100 million.
China’s Alibaba group affiliate Ant Group had committed to invest $150 million, but only a third of it had come to the company before the border tension started between India and China. Following that, Ant Group in its regulatory filing for its now-suspended IPO had said it was reviewing its investment in Zomato due to India changing foreign investment rules.
Since then, Zomato hasn’t commented on its investment commitment from Ant Group.
Goyal said the company is conducting a secondary transaction of $140 million. “As part of this transaction, we have already provided liquidity worth $30 million to our ex-employees,” he tweeted. Goyal’s tweets also said he is expecting this December to be its ‘highest ever GMV (gross merchandise value) month’ .
“We are now clocking 25% higher GMV than our previous peaks in February 2020,” Goyal tweeted. Online food delivery was one of the most-hit categories by the virus outbreak. During the initial months of the lockdown, order volumes had taken a severe hit, but it saw a gradual recovery over the subsequent months. In May, Zomato fired around 520 people to battle the pandemic’s impact on its business.
“The tailwinds for food delivery businesses are clearly visible, and we believe that the growth of the sector will accelerate post vaccine,” added Goyal.
Zomato hasn’t said how it wants to use the capital but in a note to staff in September, Goyal had told them this would be used as a ‘war-chest’ for future mergers and acquisitions and fighting off potential price wars from its rivals. While Bengaluru-based Swiggy is its biggest rival, Amazon recently entered the business.
[ad_2]
Source link
