Food delivery enterprise Zomato has closed a $660 million investment round from marquee investors and is presently in the procedure of closing a $140 million secondary transaction, Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal mentioned in a Twitter thread. The round has valued Swiggy’s arch-rival at a post-income valuation of $3.9 billion that saw 10 new investors coming on-board as the enterprise prepares itself for the IPO in the very first half of 2021. “This list includes Tiger Global, Kora, Luxor, Fidelity (FMR), D1 Capital, Baillie Gifford, Mirae, and Steadview,” Goyal mentioned.
Goyal, at a public occasion in December final year, had mentioned that the enterprise is going to raise $500-600 million. Since then, the enterprise has raised investments at normal intervals in its Series J round of funding. The enterprise was final valued at $3.6 billion following $195 million funding in November, according to a regulatory filing by 1 of its early investors and Naukri.com’s parent Info Edge. On the other hand, Swiggy, which final raised $43 million in April 2020, was reportedly valued at $3.5 billion.
Moreover, as aspect of the secondary deal, the enterprise has currently offered liquidity worth $30 million to its ex-staff, Goyal additional tweeted. “I am grateful for their contribution in building @Zomato and am glad that we created some wealth for these super amazing people. A number of these ex-Zomans are busy working on their own startups and will not need to raise seed capital from external investors,” Goyal added. Amid Covid, as the complete economy faced headwinds, the foodtech sector saw a substantial effect with negligible orders and fewer operational restaurants. The enterprise had laid off almost 600 staff – 13 per cent of its workforce due to Covid effect, according to an internal note by Goyal written to staff in May.
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However, the meals delivery segment has recovered drastically. According to Goyal, December 2020 is probably to witness the highest ever gross merchandise worth (GMV) in Zomato’s history. The enterprise is clocking about 25 per cent greater GMV than its earlier peaks in February 2020 as the “tailwinds for food delivery businesses are clearly visible, and we believe that the growth of the sector will accelerate post vaccine.” Meanwhile, Swiggy had reported in October that its pan India meals delivery had recovered to about 80-85 per cent of pre-Covid order in worth when in “many markets” it has returned to 95 per cent, and “some even over 100%.”