Zomato closes USD 660 million funding round: Deepinder Goyal

Online restaurant guide and food ordering platform Zomato has closed USD 660 million over Rs 4,850 crore funding round, valuing the company at a post-money valuation of USD 3.6 billion, its founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said on Friday.

Online restaurant guide and food ordering platform Zomato has closed USD 660 million (over Rs 4,850 crore) funding round, valuing the company at a post-money valuation of USD 3.6 billion, its founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said on Friday. In a series of tweets, Goyal said, ''Marquee global investors share our enthusiasm about the future of this business. Today, we closed a USD 660 million primary financing round at a post-money valuation of USD 3.9 billion.'' He also said that ''10 new investors are joining us in our journey. This list includes Tiger Global, Kora, Luxor, Fidelity (FMR), D1 Capital, Baillie Gifford, Mirae, and Steadview''.

In another tweet, Goyal said that on top of this USD 660 million, the company is in the process of closing a USD 140-million secondary transaction. As part of this transaction, it has already provided liquidity worth USD 30 million to its ex-employees. In a tweet, Goyal said, ''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''.

About the business, Goyal said food delivery in India is rapidly coming out of COVID-19 shadows. ''December 2020 is expected to be the highest ever GMV (gross merchandise value) month in our history. We are now clocking 25 per cent higher GMV than our previous peaks in February 2020''. He also added that the tailwinds for food delivery businesses are clearly visible, and ''we believe that the growth of the sector will accelerate post vaccine''.