India-based food delivery service Zomato has raised $52 million in funding from Kora Investments. The Mint was first to report the news, citing a person close to the matter who asked not to be named. The $52 million is, according to that person, part of Zomato’s ongoing Series J funding round that could eventually be as high as $600 million. The new fundraise brings Zomato’s current total funding to $1.2 billion.
Even amidst difficulties brought on by the pandemic, it’s been a very busy year for Zomato, and one filled with more ups than downs. The company bought Uber Eats’ India business in March for $206 million, then raised $5 million in funding in April as part of its ongoing Series J. Like chief rival Swiggy, Zomato also unveiled a grocery delivery service as a way of diversifying its business model.
While Zomato did have to make cuts to its workforce in May, that hasn’t seemingly hampered the company’s overall growth. As of September, Zomato said it had recovered about 80 percent of its pre-pandemic sales. To top all that off, the company plans to go public in the first half of 2021.
Prosus-backed Swiggy is currently Zomato’s main competitor in India, and has raised $1.6 billion to date. However, Amazon’s recent entry into the India food delivery market could mean formidable competition for both Swiggy and Zomato, especially since Amazon already has a presence in India through its PrimeNow and AmazonFresh services.
Last month alone, Zomato closed a $62 million funding from Temasek unit MacRitchie Investments and a $103 million from Tiger Global. The Mint’s source said Kora is expected to make a follow-up investment “of a larger amount,” though no exact figure was given.
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