The company is expected to announce investments in business discovery and rewards platforms magicpin, fitness startup curefit, and logistics aggregator Shiprocket, according to people aware of the development. Zomato Cofounder and CEO Deepinder Goyal Was
Appointed as an Independent Director on the Board of Magicpin In July.
The company will also announce its divestiture from Fitso, a sports discovery platform that it invested in earlier this year.
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Interview with ET in OctoberGoyal said the company is looking to invest in businesses that can add more than $10 billion to their market capitalization.
“We are investing in some really good founders and companies – all in synergistic or adjacent areas of our business. We expect, over time, some of these companies and founders to continue on their growth path with Zomato. Will choose to merge. We are not asking any of these founders or companies for future M&A rights. We want Chem to work here,” Goyal said in the interview.
Zomato declined to comment on these developments, citing violation of the markets’ silence period before announcing its earnings for the July-September quarter.
The investment is led by Zomato’s corporate development team, which reports to Chief Financial Officer Akshat Goyal. The four-member team is headed by Kunal Swarup, who was earlier at Kotak Investment Banking.
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Previously invested in online grocery delivery startup Grofers For about 10% stake. “We have a financial stake in Grofers. Our worst case scenario is that we have a financial investment that will give us some return. Hopefully, this is not a financial but a strategic one. And we’ll see if it makes sense for us to merge at some point. But it is too early to say anything now.
Food remains a main focus
The series of new investments has come on the back of changes in food delivery and discovery platforms, including a cleanup drive this year.
closed its international operations in the US, UK, Ireland and Singapore.
Earlier this year the company was focusing on building out its fitness and health verticals through the Fitso and nutraceuticals business. After shutting down the nutrition business in September, it is now likely to split from Fitso.
“The evolution of the food delivery business was such that in the big picture, these businesses stopped adding much to the overall business. We don’t want to create businesses that can only add $1 billion in shareholder value. We need our Be prudent with team time and money in our bank,” Goyal had earlier said in an interview when asked about the various businesses the company had closed over the year.
Zomato’s revenue from operations rose to Rs 844 crore in April-June, up 22% from the previous quarter, while net loss jumped 168% to Rs 360 crore from the previous quarter.