Gurugram-based food technology unicorn Zomato has completed its $660 million primary fundraise, giving the firm a $3.9 billion valuation, as the company set its sights on an initial sale of shares in the first half of 2021.
In addition to Tiger Global Management, Baillie Gifford, Luxor Capital, Kora Capital, Steadview, D1 Capital and Mirae Asset, Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said on Twitter, the fundraise saw 10 new investors enter Zomato.
As a part of a secondary deal, Zomato is also raising $140 million, Goyal said. Zomato has given liquidity worth $30 million to its former employees as part of this final fundraiser before its IPO.
To sustain its cash reserves, the start-up has been on a fund-raising spree as it aims to create a war-chest for future acquisitions as well as battle any potential price wars in the coming months.
In the logistics space, Zomato tried to make acquisitions. The current valuation makes Zomato the most valued food technology unicorn in the Indian start-up ecosystem, surpassing $3.6 billion worth of competitor Swiggy.
In November, on its website, Zomato made takeaway service commissions free to increase business for offline restaurants. The company also reported that 110 percent of that in the months before the pandemic was the gross merchandise value run rate of food orders on its website. Zomato also announced last month that it had issued more than 130 million orders to control the spread of coronavirus since the beginning of the first lockdown implemented in March.
Zomato has also been making changes to its management as a build-up to the IPO. By the end of October, Zomato had named Akshant Goyal as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Goyal was formerly the company’s head of business growth and has been involved with the food distribution company for the past four years. Akriti Chopra, who was the company’s previous CFO, will manage the production of individuals in the organisation.
In January 2020, Zomato acquired Uber Eats India company that helped to propel them to market leadership in this hotly contested area. The transition of users and merchants from Uber Eats India to Zomato was swift, and so well coordinated by both teams that 97 percent of the combined GMV on the Zomato app could be transferred and retained.
