Zomato, the online food delivery company, has announced the introduction of Zomato Wings, a platform that connects investors with restaurants to assist them in raising capital.
Thousands of promising restaurants may lack the expertise or attention needed to attract funds from the relevant investors at the right moment. Zomato Founder and Chief Executive Officer Deepinder Goyal wrote in a blog that the company wishes to serve.
Goyal wrote in a blog, “We hope to build the go-to platform for venture capital firms, angel investors, family offices, etc. that are looking to make private investments in restaurants and cloud-kitchens.” Goyal, on the other hand, explained clearly that Zomato will not invest in any of its partner restaurants and that its involvement will be confined to facilitating restaurant fundraising. Zomato will not invest in brands or restaurants because it does not seek to compete with restaurants and chooses to remain a fair and neutral channel for all restaurants, he added.
The blog quoted Tracxn reports to claim that just about 25 restaurants and cloud-kitchens completed their Series A or larger equity funding rounds in the last three years, illustrating that it is challenging for restaurants in India to secure funding from growth-focused equity investors.
Zomato expects to become the go-to platform for venture capital firms, angel investors, family offices, and many others interested in making private investments in restaurants and cloud-kitchens by compiling a set of restaurants and cloud-kitchens that might very well become rocketships if ignited with equity capital, the 38 years-old CEO said.
The Gurgaon-based company announced earlier this month that it had sold its fitness facility subsidiary Fitso to fitness startup Curefit for $50 million. In addition to the cross-selling, Zomato invested an additional $50 million in Curefit. It has so acquired a total stake of 6.4 percent in the fitness startup worth $100 million. Fitso, a full-stack sports facilities provider and discovery platform, was acquired by Zomato in January 2021 for a reported worth between Rs 80 crore and Rs 100 crore.
It also struck definitive agreements last month to spend $75 million for an 8percent ownership in Bigfoot Retail Solutions Pvt Ltd., which handles business-to-business (B2B) logistics technology provider Shiprocket. The investment is part of a $185 million funding round. In addition, Zomato has agreed to invest $50 million in Samast Technologies Pvt Ltd., which owns magicpin, the hyperlocal discovery portal.
Zomato, which was crowned India’s first tech unicorn earlier this year to get listed on the Stock Markets, recorded a consolidated net loss of Rs 430 crore earlier this month. The online food aggregator giant roughly doubled its consolidated net loss for the quarter that ended September to Rs 434.9 crore from Rs 229.8 crore in the same quarter last year. Its revenue from operations more almost doubled during the period under review to Rs 1,024.2 crore, up from Rs 426 crore in the second quarter of FY21, owing to growth in the food delivery business.