Zomato inches closer to Swiggy’s valuation at $3.25 Bn

Zomato has crossed the $3.25 billion valuation mark with the fresh fund infusion from Pacific Horizon Investment Trust from Scotland. The new valuation narrows the gap between the two food delivery majors - Swiggy and Zomato. As per the report.

The Naspers-backed firm was valued at $3.6 billion in its $113 million Series I round in February. In terms of valuation, Swiggy is now only $350 million ahead of Zomato.

The fresh funding round for Zomato has come at a time when food delivery companies have been facing a 70% decrease in order volumes, due to the present pandemic crisis.

One of the reasons on how the online sales of groceries have shot up is because of people’s reluctance to go outside with the threat of coronavirus looming over.

Zomato had recently forayed into grocery via Zomato Market to compete holistically with Swiggy at a time when online grocery orders have seen a spike due to the Covid-19-induced lockdown. The company is reportedly in talks to partner with grocery delivery startups Grofers and BigBasket to sell food products and essentials on its platform by facilitating their deliveries. Whereas, Swiggy started offering grocery delivery about 15 months ago through Swiggy Stores.

Zomato also acquired the India business of Uber Eats in an all stock deal for $206 million earlier this year. While the transaction was valued at $171 million, the remaining $35 million was received as a reimbursement of goods and services tax receivable from Zomato.

Lastly, the food delivery business has been hit hard because of a countrywide lockdown alongside the fear of contracting the coronavirus among delivery personnel. Zomato had launched several initiatives such as offering loans to restaurants, provisioning support to the restaurant workers and feeding poor and stranded people.