Gurugram-based food tech unicorn Zomato has closed a $660 million Series J financing round at a post-money assessment of $3.9 billion, the platform’s cofounder Deepinder Goyal announced on Friday. Ten new investors are joining the Gurugram-based unicorn. This list includes Tiger Global, Kora, Luxor, Fidelity (FMR), D1 Capital, Baillie Gifford, Mirae, and Steadview.
Zomato is also raising $140 million as a part of a secondary transaction. Recognizing the role played by ex-employees who have been provided liquidity worth $30 million, Goyal said he is grateful for their contribution in building Zomato. “I am glad that we created some wealth for these super amazing people,” said Goyal.
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 👼
6/n— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) December 18, 2020
Zomato had to lose many of their employees to reinforce its price range and navigate the coronavirus pandemic, which has significantly harmed the meals supply industry in India within the early months. Goyal stated the meals supply marketplace is “unexpectedly popping out of COVID-19 shadows.
The funding is also expected to help Zomato contend with its rival Swiggy and Amazon, which jumped into the food delivery business in India this year. The current valuation makes Zomato the most-valued food tech unicorn in the Indian startup ecosystem, surpassing competitor Swiggy, which is valued at $3.6 billion.
Zomato has also been making changes to its leadership, as the company hopes to go public by the first half of next year. Towards the end of October, Zomato had elevated Akshant Goyal as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Goyal was earlier heading corporate development for the company and has been associated with the food delivery company for the last four years. Akriti Chopra, who was the earlier CFO of the company, will handle people development in the organization.
