SoftBank-backed online grocery Grofers is in talks with Zomato to raise around $100-120 million, stated a news report. If reports are to be believed the investment announcement will be made in coming weeks. As this news broke, there was another announcement made by co-founder and chief executive of the company, Albinder Dhindsa.
Dhindsa took to microblogging site to inform everyone that his friend and co-founder of Grofers, Saurabh Kumar (fondly called SK), has left the company. He said, “While SK will no longer be involved in day-to-day responsibilities at grofers, he will continue to be a board member and a shareholder at the company. This is the end of an era for Grofers, and I know all of us will absolutely miss having him around everyday. I wish him the absolute best with his new mission and will be cheering for him with love and pride.”
Dhindsa revealed that Kumar over the last six months had been yearning to invest in his own personal evolution – to grow beyond a growth driver to become a designer, enabler and coach. “And diving deeper has convinced him that this is another area he can have a huge impact on, if he can build on it from scratch.”
In the case of investments from Zomato, according to a Moneycontrol report, people familiar with the development said this will be a $100-120 million investment at a valuation of a billion dollars.
In April, food delivery platform Zomato has filed preliminary papers with capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise Rs 8,250 crore through an initial share-sale. The initial public offer (IPO) comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 7,500 crore and offer for sale to the tune of Rs 750 crore by Info Edge (India) Ltd, draft red herring prospectus filed with Sebi showed on Wednesday.
Proceeds from the fresh issue would be used towards funding organic and inorganic growth initiatives; and general corporate purposes.
Zomato's FY20 revenue had jumped over two-fold to USD 394 million (around Rs 2,960 crore) from the previous fiscal, while its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) loss was around Rs 2,200 crore.
In February, Zomato had raised USD 250 million (over Rs 1,800 crore) in funding from Tiger Global, Kora and others, valuing the online food ordering platform at USD 5.4 billion.
