Zomato Media, the owner and operator of online food-delivery and restaurant discovery platform, Zomato, recently announced that it has sold the UAE arm of its delivery business to Delivery Hero, the Berlin based online food delivery platform. The deal has been reported to bring $172 million to Zomato which has also raised $105 million in its latest funding tranche.
According to sources close to the matter, the $315-million round has been ongoing since last year and currently, the Gurgaon based company is valued at $2 billion. Zomato’s business operator, Talabat Middle East, based out of the UAE, will continue to own and run Zomato Gold and ad sales, and its other subsidiaries in that market. Delivery Hero has reportedly invested $50 million in Zomato, which marks its second entry into the Indian food-delivery market.
According to the German group, the acquisition will lead to an estimated monthly revenue of $2-million while monthly orders of nearly 1.2-million will be directed to Middle East and North African business of Delivery Hero.
Niklas Östberg, CEO, Delivery Hero has been reported to say that the company is delighted to have become a part of the food-delivery growth story that Zomato has created in India and to share learnings.
Reliable sources site that the UAE business has been sold by Zomato as the company aims to raise funds between 500 million to $1 billion and the sale proceeds are expected to shore up the company’s cash reserves. The deal will made Zomato independent of Ant Financial, which is the largest shareholder in the company with a 28% stake.
Incidentally, the development comes at a time when further consolidation in India’s food-delivery business is anticipated. In February 2019, Uber Eats was in the final stages of negotiations to sell its India business to Swiggy in what is expected to be primarily a share-swap deal. Zomato at present is engaged in a long-drawn battle for supremacy with the cash rich Swiggy.
