Zomato, a company that has been operating in loss ever since it was first established, and also the one on which the Indian startup ecosystem is betting a lot on, has had at least the first half of its massively anticipated IPO, going right. The food delivery segment has seen a massive boost over the last year, especially in India where wave after wave of COVID 19 is leading to nation wide lockdowns, leaving people with no choice but to order food through Zomato or Swiggy. This, combined with India’s recently sparked interest in the investment world, has led to Zomato’s IPO being oversubscribed by a 38x multiplier. Yes, you read that right.
Almost every segment was oversubscribed, the most extreme reaction coming from the institutional investors quota, which saw an oversubscription of 58 times. Following that was the non-institutional (high net-worth investors) portion, which was subscribed 33 times over the allotted shares, and last being retail shares, which saw a 7.5 times oversubscription.
Surprisingly, the employee quota was undersubscribed, with only a little over 40.5 lakh shares being taken by company personnel, as opposed to the 65 lakh shares which were reserved for the category. Thus, only 62% over the allotted employee shares saw bids.
Nonetheless, the IPO was a testament to the growing startup culture in India, reaping massive dividends for the food delivery platform. It had set out to raise just over a billion dollars at first. However, just before the day of the offering, it reduced the size of the event, after raising about half of the set out target by investors. This alone provided a boost to the public, which was highly impressed by the industry’s enthusiasm over what could be the financial event of the year.
The company put a price band of ₹72-76 on its shares. Thus, at the upper target price, Zomato was valued at over ₹60,000 crores. Now, the company’s shares are expected to be listed by July 27.
This is just the first of a massive tsunami of IPOs that is soon to hit the Indian startup culture. Flipkart, Paytm, and many others, are looking to initiate their own public offering in the coming months. This, along with the fact that over a dozen companies have turned unicorn in 2021, is a sign that Indian startups are maturing.
