Indian food delivery giant Zomato is looking to bring four new investors to join its ongoing USD 600 million funding round.
London-headquartered Steadview Capital, South Korea’s Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, and NY-based investment firms Bow Wave Capital and Luxor Capital are expected to come on Zomato’s cap table by putting in a combined check of USD 150 million, a report by local media Economic Times (ET) said, citing sources.
Moreover, UK’s Baillie Gifford, which had invested USD 5 million in the round earlier in March, is likely to add more funds, the report added. Zomato is reportedly valued at USD 3 billion for the ongoing fundraising.
If the proposed investment deal goes through, Zomato would be able to raise almost USD 575 million for its USD 600 million round that it kicked off late last year.
In January, the Gurugram-based startup announced a USD 150 million funding from its long-time backer Ant Financial, as a part of this round. However, it could only receive USD 50 million as India tweaked its FDI norms in April, making it difficult for Chinese investors to back Indian companies.
Taking cognizance of the situation, Zomato shifted its focus to non-Chinese investors. In early September, the company got a boost in its brand value when HSBC Global Research valued it at USD 5 billion. At about the same time, it reportedly raised about USD 250 million from two new investors, Tiger Global and Kora Capital, along with existing backer Temasek.
As it roped in new investors, Zomato’s co-founder and chief executive Deepinder Goyal, told his employees, that company is looking to go for an initial public offering by the first half of 2021.
“Our finance and legal teams are working hard to take us to IPO sometime in the first half of next year. We hope to create a lot of value for our current employees who have Esops (employee stock ownership plans) sometime in the next year,” Goyal wrote in the email, a few days later after landing fresh funds from Temasek.
Two weeks ago, Goyal said food delivery companies that suffered a major setback when the pandemic hit India in March, have almost bounced back and touched 85% of sales they were clocking before the onset of COVID-19.
“The investors joining the current fundraising are betting on the company tapping the public markets. While it is not being sold as a pre-IPO round, there is a clear path to an IPO that the company has drawn for itself,” a source told ET.