Info Edge puts in further INR 55 crores in Zomato; 4th Round takes total tally to INR 86 crores
Restaurant aggregator Zomato today received its fourth round of funding from Info Edge worth Rs 55 crore. Before this Info Edge had invested Rs 31 crore in Zomato over three rounds of funding. As per the BSE filing, the latest investment has been made through
ordinary shares of Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd. Info Edge’s latest investment cements their faith in Zomato’s capability to run a good business which is steadily growing in profits as well as expanding globally. Info Edge founder & executive vice chairman Sanjeev Bikhchandani said, “With this investment, Info Edge has transitioned to a majority shareholder in Zomato, but this will not transform the operating relationship us and the company founders.” Info Edge is an online-classifieds company that also runs recruitment site Naukri.com.Zomato plans to use the current investment to improve their market share and continue expansion in the India and UAE markets – which are two dominant markets for the company today. Deepinder Goyal, founder & CEO of Zomato is happy about their continuing partnership with Info Edge. On usage plans for the current
investment, he says: “We will use the funds for product development, scaling up sales team in various locations, and international expansion. “India is already a profitable business for us, and our UAE business is very close to breaking even.”Zomato was launched four years ago and currently operates in five countries: India, United Kingdom, UAE, Sri Lanka. In India, they have operations in 13 cities. The company also plans to enter Philippines and South Africa in the coming months. Their website and mobile app together provide information on over 75,000 restaurants across 19 cities in five countries. Zomato's mobile app is one of the most popular apps in India with over a million downloads across different platforms.
This has been the fourth investment and in pretty quick succession. To this, Deepinder says, "We only raise as much as we have visibility to invest in our business. We really do not want the pressure of raising a large round and then thinking about how to make good use of that money."
Read our in depth coverage of Zomato's growth 5 years on here.