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Zomato Adds IPO by 2021 to its Menu

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 Zomato Adds IPO by 2021 to its Menu

CEOInsights Team, 0

Zomato has roped in New York-based investment fund Tiger Global as part of its current fundraising round, Deepinder Goyal, CEO & Co-Founder, Zomato said in an email to employees on Thursday. The company currently valued at $3.5 billion, plans to file for an initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of next year, although whether it will list in India or the US is unclear.

“Our finance/legal teams are working hard to take us to IPO sometime in the first half of next year. The value of our business is going up dramatically, all thanks to the hard work and commitment of our team. We hope to create a lot of value for our current employees who have Esops sometime in the next year,” Deepinder wrote in an email.

Deepinder said Zomato’s burn rate had been reducing even as its market share was accelerating in all regions. The monthly burn rate for July was under $1 million, he had said earlier. Zomato has said previously that it was clocking improved unit economics over the past 12 months, and its food delivery business had recovered to

The value of our business is going up dramatically, all thanks to the hard work and commitment of our team. We hope to create a lot of value for our current employees who have Esops sometime in the next year



80 percent of pre-Covid-19 levels. Goyal also said that the company had facilitated the sale of Esops for ex-employees worth $30 million (Rs 225 crore) to investors. “That’s a lot of meaningful wealth creation we have enabled for our people. On an average, people sold their Esops at a 4x premium to what those shares were allotted to them back in the day,” he added.

If the IPO does happen, it will be the first among India’s modern consumer internet startups, and India’s first internet IPO since companies such as Infoedge (which owns Naukri.com) and MakeMyTrip. Infoedge is also a shareholder in Zomato.

At present, a company incorporated in India can list on a foreign stock exchange only after it is listed in India. MakeMyTrip, which is listed on Nasdaq, had to incorporate itself in Mauritius to facilitate overseas listing without going public in India. Although most large Indian startups are far from an IPO, some such as Freshworks, Policybazaar and Nykaa are expected to go public in the next few years.