Zomato is the one of the largest food delivery startups in India. It is a multinational company which was founded in the year 2008 having its headquarters in Gurgaon, Haryana. The startup’s service is available in almost 24 countries and more than 10,000 cities. Zomato has announced that they would adopt to Electric Vehicles by 2030. Let’s look at how the startup is planning to do 100% food delivery on Electric Vehicles.
Zomato which is a Bangalore based food tech company has announced that they were planning to adopt to shift their food delivery service to Electric vehicles by the end of 2030. In the month of May, the company had announced its plans to provide funding towards environmental projects in order to reduce the emission of carbon into the atmosphere.
The company had also conveyed through a blog post that they would join the EV-100 which is a global initiative by the companies in order to shift towards Electric Vehicles.
What Deepinder Goyal said
The co-founder and the CEO of Zomato, Deepinder Goyal had conveyed through a blog post that the company was already making a number of deliveries using Electric Vehicles in the major cities which include Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, etc. and added that the company will try and fully adapt towards Electric Vehicles by 2030.
He further added that the current food delivery through Electric Vehicle is hardly a few compared to the active delivery partners and added that the company understands that it is hard to adapt to 100% EVs but it is considered to be a necessity in the long run.
Barriers Zomato will Face in adapting 100% Electric Vehicles
In order to adapt to 100% Electric Vehicles there are a lot of barriers faced by the company. Currently, the adoption rate is very low for the company as well as the two-wheeler industry. There are a certain set of barriers that currently impact the two-wheeler industry in general which include lack of infrastructure which is the charging stations, limited battery range, higher cost, and lack of brand loyalty in the new technology.
Zomato’s strategy in adapting 100% electric vehicles delivery
Zomato has been working towards adapting to the Electric Vehicle and has been actively engaging with certain Electric Vehicle players. They have been trying to come up with certain personalized designs for the company and also have been working towards creating business models that would help in making the transitions towards the Electric Vehicle sector much more easier and faster.
In February 2021, the company had raised an amount of USD 250 million from its existing set of investors which include Tiger Global, Kora and Fidelity.
Zomato Revenue
Companies other than Zomato looking for transition to electric vehicles
Zomato is not the only company that is working towards adaption of the Electric Vehicles in their business operation. Flipkart which is owned by Walmart had also announced that the company is looking forward to deploying around 25,000 Electric Vehicles by 2030.
Flipkart has also joined the climate group’s initiative of EV100 and the transition is a part of its commitment towards to climate group to change the logistic fleet to Electric Vehicles. The e-commerce giant has already started using the 2-wheeler and 3 wheeler Electric Vehicles in the major cities that include Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Guwahati, etc.
Even Amazon has pledged towards the EV100 initiative and announced that they would introduce 10,000 Electric Vehicles for delivery and also introduce around 1 Lakh Electric Vehicles by 2030 as part of its commitment.
Zomato is looking to make the company public and has been preparing for IPO which is considered to be one of the largest IPO. The company has also reported that they are doing well and said that their performance has crossed their expectations. Amidst the lockdown and restrictions laid down due to Covid 19 people are turning towards the online food delivery.
FAQ
What is the net worth of Zomato?
Zomato had a net income of US$350 million in 2020.
Who is owner of Zomato?
Deepinder Goyal is founder and CEO of Zomato.
What is the valuation of Zomato?
The valuation of Zomato is $5.4 billion dollars after the recent investment of $250 million by Tiger Global, Kora and others.
Life, as we know, ended with the advent of 2020. It ushered in a new and scary era by introducing us to COVID-19. This puzzle remains unsolved even after toils by the best minds in the world. We now talk about life before and after the pandemic.
Nothing remains untouched, and one of the most affected is the food business, particularly food delivery. Zomato is the forerunner in this industry in India. And it is only apt that their business performance is seen as an example.
Zomato had reported a revenue of $192 million on a loss of $277 million in the financial year 2018-19. Then, in 2019-20, it doubled its earnings (revenue) reporting levels of $394 million on a loss of $293 million.
Zomato acquired competitor Uber Eats in January 2020 gaining market share to increase GMV by 108%. In figures, the GMV increased from $718 million in financial 2019 to $1.49 billion in the financial year 2020.
But as COVID-19 gained pace in the country, India responded starting a lockdown in March. The food delivery GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) was at an all-time low, reducing by 80% in the last week of Match 2020 (comparing with GMV at its peak in mid-February 2020).
Zomato—During Pandemic
In June 2020 quarter, Zomato had a revenue of $41 million on a loss of $12 million. These figures show the evident effects of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across India. But a positive impact was that the burn rate was reduced. It was expected to stand under $1 million and by July 2020 the monthly revenues started showing a steady rise reaching 60% of pre-COVID levels.
Zomato—Now
Following Goyal’s prediction, the recovery has now been over 80% in August 2020 and finally reached pre-COVID levels by October 2020. He further expects the food delivery business to grow 15-25 percent month on month. He informs that Zomato has done 9.2 crore deliveries since March with no reported transmission through delivery. The road through slow and rocky, persistence has still yielded results.
Zomato—Steps Taken For Continued Business
Precautions Taken By Zomato Delivery Partners During Pandemic
Zomato recognized that they have to take initiatives for survival in the hostile business atmosphere. There were a series of steps taken that lay down an example of a strong spirit and determination. We look at a few of these:
Contactless Dining: Introduced in India and eight other countries, patrons were offered contactless dining when they visited a restaurant. People were able to enjoy the dining experience without any interaction with restaurant staff or touching menu cards.
Contactless Food Delivery: A similar concept to contactless dining, here food was delivered without direct interaction with the delivery person. The food is left at an agreed point and picked up by the customer.
Temperature checks: All delivery partners have their temperatures checked when they reach the restaurant to pick up delivery before the order is handed out. This is then mentioned on the receipt for the benefit and information of the customers.
Aarogya Setu App: Zomato made it mandatory for all delivery partners to download and use the government-backed Aarogya Setu app.
Mask and Sanitizers: Mask and sanitizers have become a must at all times and for everyone. Zomato provided washable and reusable masks as well as sanitizers to all working delivery partners. Where they were unable to do this, they have reimbursed partners upon purchase o masks and sanitizers.
Training: All delivery staff was provided training on contactless delivery to ensure bot the parties remain safe during harsh times. This also included training on safety measures as recommended by WHO for delivery as well as personal fronts.
Restaurant safety: Zomato ensured that all partner restaurants implemented safety measures. They also shared all information with the user so they are assured of the safety measures and hygiene standards. This helps in making an informed decision. Restaurants also had to issue a declaration that they were following measures.
Insurance: Zomato has added OPD coverage of up to INR 5000 to cover potential testing costs for partners. In case of infection, they are also covered by insurance for medical expenses and any loss of earnings.
Disabling Cash on Delivery: Cash on delivery was disabled to avoid any contact and safety reasons.
Precautions Taken By Zomato Restaurant Partners During Pandemic
Zomato—Ventures
Zomato’s primary business model has been the food delivery business. But it also had a small niche segment of delivering groceries, fruits, and vegetables. This venture was called Zomato markets.
During the imposed lockdown in March and further, increasing numbers of COVID-19 swept India, people decided to go out of home less and less. The availability of daily essentials via Zomato was a lucrative option as bigger competitors like Big Basket and Amazon struggles to deliver. Zomato was able to deliver with ties to small and medium local shops.
However, once lockdown became relaxed, it faced stiff competition from new and old competitors alike. Eventually, it did exit this business and decided to focus on the food delivery business model as it started reaching pre-COVID levels.
Another interesting venture is Zomato’s Feed Daily Wager program under the aegis of Feed India campaign. It collected over 30 crores during the pandemic for this cause and was able to provide over 65 million meals to the daily wage earners who lost their means to earn.
Also, under this program, they delivered rations kits which would contain up to 100 meals for the family. More than 100,000 of these kits have already been delivered over the pandemic period.
What precautions did Zomato take while delivering the Food?
Some of the precaution taken while delivering Food Products during this Pandemic were-
Contactless Delivery
Face masks
Disabling COD
What is Contactless Delivery?
Zomato launched a contactless delivery option that allowed the customer to opt option for the delivery partner to leave the package outside their home, ensuring no human-to-human interaction and hence lowering the risk of any transmission.
How Zomato educated its delivery partners?
Zomato was involved in continuously educating its delivery partners on hygiene practices (not to touch face, nose, sneeze in the elbow, etc.) to ensure their own as well as the ecosystem’s safety.
Why did Zomato disabled the COD option?
Zomato temporarily disabled the COD (cash-on-delivery) option on its app for safety reasons and to avoid contact between the customers and delivery partners.
What is Zomato Gold Support Fund?
Zomato launched the Zomato Gold Support Fund with the goal of helping out the restaurants that were finding it difficult to support their workers during the pandemic.
How Zomato helped people who were directly affected by COVID-19?
Zomato provided services to the quarantine facilities that were essential during this pandemic. It was very important for Zomato to find more than just a few ways to help the community fight against this pandemic. Zomato teamed up with Apollo Hospitals to deliver food to those who were in isolation wards, in their quarantine facilities.
Zomato—Conclusion
It was unimaginable to think of the world that we live in today. The most important lesson probably is being human and having humanity in these times. All of us need to rise above individuals and support each other as a community.
Zomato has given us an example to follow. It saw its business decline on a slide, but it kept going and persevered. As a company, it tried to branch into other dimensions, albeit without success. But it remained focused and came back strongly in the end as the numbers and performance suggest.
Another factor was the support to the community, it included customers, restaurants, delivery partners, and even people in general as everyone suffered. Zomato has shown grit, determination, heart, perseverance in adverse conditions to come out a winner.
With the tension escalating at the Indo-China border, the Chinese-funded companies in India are currently at risk. The people of India are now boycotting Chinese manufacturers and organizations that sell their products in India. As a result, Indian startups funded by Chinese investors are also facing severe backlash.
Among India’s top 30 companies and startups (entrepreneurial ventures worth over $1 billion), 18 have received funding from the Chinese.
Chinese investors are quick in identifying the potential in Indian startups. They find investing in India enticing because India has an attractive risk-return trade-off and remains the second-fastest growing economy in the world. Chinese investors have funded over 18 Indian unicorns; it amounts to around $3.9 billion in investment in 2019. But the growing conflict between the two countries is making it challenging for these unicorns to receive further investment capital from China.
BigBasket is an Indian online grocery delivery service. Alibaba invested in BigBasket in 2018. The investment assists BigBasket in competing with the US-based Amazon and India’s Flipkart. The company’s valuation exceeded $1 billion with the help of Chinese investment. The decision to boycott Chinese products affected BigBasket in several ways.
Dailyhunt
Chinese Investor: Alibaba
Dailyhunt – Chinese Investment In India
Dailyhunt is one of the fastest-growing startups in this list. Dailyhunt is an Indian news content aggregator. It is considered as one of the world’s top mobile applications for staying abreast of the latest happenings across the globe. With 22 million users and 30 billion page views per month, Dailyhunt has indeed cemented its status in the Indian startup ecosystem. Alibaba holds an investment in Dailyhunt.
Healofy
Chinese Investor: Ant Financial
Healofy – Chinese Investment In India
Healofy is India’s largest women-oriented social network; it helps women connect with other women. Healofy raised $1 million in seed fund from Omidyar Network in 2018. Healofy then received $8 million in fresh funding from Alibaba-backed parenting platform BabyTree Group and BAce Capital, a fund anchored by Alibaba’s Ant Financial.
Paytm Mall
Chinese Investor: Alibaba
Paytm Mall – Chinese Investment In India
Paytm launched the Paytm Mall app in Feb 2017. Paytm Mall follows a business to consumer model. It is an e-commerce platform that allows consumers to shop from 1.4 lakh registered sellers. Alibaba invested in Paytm Mall for a 40% stake but refused to fund Paytm Mall further. Paytm is one of the biggest e-commerce organizations to be featured in this list of Chinese-funded companies in India.
Paytm
Chinese Investor: Ant Financial
Paytm – Chinese Investment In India
Paytm is an Indian e-commerce payment system and financial technology organization. Paytm was valued at $10 billion in January 2018. Paytmvaluation was $16 billion in 2021. Ant Financial has become the largest shareholder in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, by investing $680 million.
TicketNew
Chinese Investor: Alibaba
TicketNew – Chinese Investment In India
TicketNew is a privately owned company that provides online ticket booking services for movies, theatre plays and sports. Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba has reportedly provided over $30 million in funding to TicketNew and has acquired the ticket booking platform..
Vidooly
Chinese Investor: Alibaba
Vidooly – Chinese Investment In India
Vidooly is an online video analytics and marketing company. It provides video analytics tools and video marketing services. Vidooly raised over INR 15 crores from the Alibaba group.
XpressBees
Chinese Investor: Alibaba
XpressBees – Chinese Investment In India
XpressBees is an e-commerce logistics firm that offers delivery, order management, shipping, and tracking services. Founded in 2015, XpressBees secured over $35 million in funding from Alibaba in 2017. Again in 2019, the e-commerce giant invested $10 million in the logistics starteup.
Snapdeal
Chinese Investor: Alibaba
Snapdeal – Chinese Investment In India
Snapdeal is an Indian e-commerce behemoth. Snapdeal received over $500 million in funding from three of Asia’s largest tech companies: Alibaba, Foxconn, and SoftBank. Snapdeal is another e-commerce giant that made it to this list of Chinese-backed companies in India.
It is an Indian restaurant aggregator and food delivery start-up that provides information, menus, and user-reviews of restaurants. Zomato also offers food delivery options from partner restaurants. Zomato has raised over $150 million from Alibaba.
BYJU’s
Chinese Investor: Tencent
BYJU’S – Chinese Investment In India
BYJU’S is an Indian educational technology (edtech) and online tutoring firm. It is considered as the largest ed-tech company in the country as well. Tencent, one of Asia’s largest valued Chinese tech company investor, has invested in Byju. The amount invested on the ed-tech was undisclosed.
Ola
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Ola – Chinese Investment In India
Ola Cabs is an Indian ride-sharing company offering services that include peer-to-peer ridesharing, ride service hailing, taxi, and food delivery. Ola was founded by Bhavish Aggarwal and Akit Bhati. Ola raised over $1.1 billion in funding from Tencent.
Doubtnut
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Doubtnut – Chinese Investment In India
Another ed-tech company, Doubtnut is an Indian online tutoring platform. Doubtnut operates as an e-learning platform that enables users to ask questions related to Physics, Chemistry, and Math. Tencent provided over $15 million funding to Doubtnut in the year 2020..
Dream11
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Dream11 – Chinese Investment In India
Dream11 is a fantasy sports platform that allows users to play fantasy cricket, hockey, football, kabaddi, and basketball. Tencent has a $100 million investment in Dream11 in the year 2018. Dream11 has become the first Indian gaming company to enter the unicorn club.
Flipkart
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Flipkart – Chinese Investment In India
It is an Indian e-commerce company based out of Bangalore, India. Flipkart was founded in 2007 and has been one of the e-commerce giant in India by serving . Chinese investor Tencent Holdings have invested more than $300 million in Flipkart.
Niyo
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Niyo – Chinese Investment In India
Niyo is one of India’s largest and fastest-growing fintech ventures with the vision of making banking simple, smart, and transparent for everyone. Niyo got its funding from Tencent, although the amount raised were not disclosed to the public.
Gaana
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Gaana.com – Chinese Investment In India
It is the largest Indian commercial music streaming service. Gaana.com was founded in 2012. Gaana raised over $115 million from the Chinese internet giant Tencent. Again in 2020, Tencent invested $50 million and in 2021 another $40 million on the music streaming app.
Khatabook
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Khatabook – Chinese Investment In India
Khatabook is a mobile app targeted towards small shopkeepers and kirana store owners in India. Khatabook app helps them manage their books by tracking the money owed to them through the means of a digital ledger. Tencent has invested over $75 million in Khatabook app.
MX Player
Chinese Investor: Tencent
MX Player – Chinese Investment In India
MX Player is an entertainment app that offers its viewers quality, digital-first content, it is a very popular OTT service in India for giving access to many exclusive content to it audinence. MX Player gained popularity as an Indian OTT platform. Tencent has invested over $11q million in MX Player in the year 2019.
MyGate
Chinese Investor: Tencent
MyGate – Chinese Investment In India
MyGate is an India-based security and community management app for gated premises. The security management startup raised an undisclosed amount from Chinese tech company Tencent in the year 2019.
Pine Labs
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Pine Labs – Chinese Investment In India
Pine Labs is an fintech startup and an Indian merchant platform company. Pine Labs provides financing and last-mile retail transaction technology through its help your business can accept different modes of payment. Tencent has invested and undisclosed amount in Pine Labs.
Pocket FM
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Pine Labs – Chinese Investment In India
Pocket FM is a social audio platform for Indian languages where users can find great quality audio content comprising audiobooks, stories, and podcasts. Tencent invested in this entertainment app, although the amount invested was not disclosed to the public.
Practo
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Practo – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
It develops and distributes medical information systems. Practo Technologies Private Limited offers an online software platform that provides automated appointment scheduling, billing solutions, and storage of medical records. Practo raised over $55 million from Tencent.
Swiggy
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Swiggy – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
Swiggy is one of the most popular a food delivery company in India. Swiggy is one of the unicorn in India and in fact, it is also India’s fastest unicorn. In 2018, Tencent invested on Swiggy again in 2020, Swiggy got a good amount funding from Tenvcent. Both the times, the amount is not diclosed.
Udaan
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Udaan – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
Udaan is a network-centric B2B trade platform designed specifically for small and medium-scale businesses in India. Udaan brings traders, wholesalers, and retailers into one place. Udaan raised funds from Tencent,the amount invested was not diclosed.
Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
Chinese Investor: Xiaomi
Hungama Digital Media – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
Hungama Digital Media Entertainment serves as an aggregator, developer, publisher, and distributor of Bollywood and Asian entertainment. Xiaomi made its first investment in an Indian company by pouring $25-million in Hungama Digital Media Entertainment.
Marsplay
Chinese Investor: Xiaomi
Marsplay – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
Marsplay is an online platform that allows users to discover and share fashion and beauty tips. Marsplay Internet Private Limited, the parent company of Marsplay, raised funding from Xiaomi in 2018, although the exact amount was not disclosed.
Oye! Rickshaw
Chinese Investor: Xiaomi
Oye! Rickshaw – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
Oye! Rickshaw is an electric rickshaw mobility platform that connects driver-partners and users. The best part is it is environment-friendly and is on a mission to make people commute without any problem. Oye Rickshaw raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Xiami in 2020.
ShareChat
Chinese Investor: Xiaomi and ShunWei Capital
ShareChat – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
ShareChat is an Indian Social networking service, and it was incorporated on January 8, 2015. The main attraction of this app is that it support over 15 languages. ShareChat raised funds from Xiaomi and ShunWei Capital, a Chinese venture capital firm. Both the investment amount was not disclosed
ZestMoney
Chinese Investor: Xiaomi
ZestMoney – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
ZestMoney is the largest and fastest-growing consumer lending fintech company in India. ZestMoney’s platform enables instant approval and disbursal of small-ticket loans. Xiaomi invested an undisclosed amount in ZestMoney in 2018.
OYO
Chinese Investor: Didi Chuxing
OYO – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
OYO, the multinational hospitality chain is famous for its budget rooms and it is considered the biggest network of hotels in India. It is also spread in more than 199 cities and serves its people. In the year 2019. Didi Chuxing a transport company invested $100 million in OYO.
PolicyBazaar
Chinese Investor: Tencent
Policy Bazaar – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
Policy Bazaar is a company that provides online life insurance and general insurance. The Indian multinational fintech company has been here for 14 years and has been serving people. Tencent invested $150 million in PolicyBazaar in the year 2019.
Delhivery
Chinese Investor: Fosun
Delhivery – Indian Companies with Chinese Investment
This Indian logistics and supply chain company’s main service is to transport parcels and provide third-party logistics for e-commerce companies. In the year, 2017 Fosun, a Cho9nese conglomerate company invested $3o million in Delhivery.
FAQs
How many Chinese companies are there in India?
There are 105 Chinese companies in India.
Is BigBasket funded by China?
BigBasket is an Indian online grocery delivery service. Alibaba invested in BigBasket in 2018. The investment assists BigBasket in competing with the US-based Amazon and India’s Flipkart. The company’s valuation exceeded $1 billion with the help of Chinese investment.
Is flipkart funded by China?
Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company based out Bangalore, India. Chinese investors like Tencent Holdings and Steadview Capital have invested more than $300 million in Flipkart.
Is Paytm owned by China?
Paytm launched the Paytm Mall app in Feb 2017; Paytm Mall follows a business to consumer model. It is an e-commerce platform that allows consumers to shop from 1.4 lakh registered sellers. Alibaba invested in Paytm Mall for a 40% stake but refused to fund Paytm Mall further.
What are the Chinese Investment Companies in India?
Top Chinese Investment Companies in India are:
Tencent
Alibaba
Xiaomi
How many Chinese companies are listed in Indian stock market?
There are a total of 16 Chinese FPIs registered in India.
What are the top companies that received funding from Chinese company in India?
Top companies that received funding from Chinese company in India are:
Do you also get goosebumps when you hear the word “IIT”? Do you also see IITians getting special treatment in social circles (among your family, relatives, friends, neighbours, etc)?
Here, I’ll provide additional reasons to back the statement above. IIT is among the most respected educational institutions in India ever. It has had students who have made an immense impression on students all over the world. It is, without doubt, eminent and highly productive.
IIT is the ideal choice for students who want to study engineering. It is famous for producing the top engineers in the world and there are plenty of IIT graduates who chose another path than they had planned to take. They became entrepreneurs and set up their own startups in the marketplace. Although they’re not experts in their sector, they’re making waves. Let’s take a look at 10 successful startups led by IIT-Grads.
OLA is an Indian multinational ride-sharing company offering services that include a vehicle for hire and food delivery. Founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, a Computer Science and Engineering graduate of IIT Bombay in 2008. He began his career with Microsoft, where he worked for two years, filed two patents, and published three papers in international journals. In January 2011, he co-founded Ola Cabs with Ankit Bhati in Bengaluru.
OLA – Successful Startups
Now, OLA has a turnover of $320 million and is valued at $6.2 billion in worth. It has over 6000 employees working and is currently available in 169 cities in India. It has expanded in countries like Australia and New Zealand in 2018 and the UK, it started its Auto Rickshaw service in 2019.
Founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007, it is one of the most popular e-commerce in India. Both Sachin and Binny are alumni of IIT Delhi. The two wished to offer Indians an online store that was created in India which led to the making of what we all now know as Flipkart.
Flipkart Online Shopping Platform
Flipkart, which initially started as book sales, expanding into other product categories such as electronics, fashion, and lifestyle products. In August 2018, US-based retail chain Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for $16 billion, valuing Flipkart at around $20 billion.
Quikr is an Indian online marketplace and classified advertising company, based in Bangalore, India with listings in over 1000 cities in categories such as mobile phones, household goods, cars, real estate, jobs, services, and education. It provides a platform for users to buy or sell goods and services from each other. Other services offered include a missed call service and instant messaging. Quikr was founded by Pranay Chulet and Jiby Thomas in 2008. The CEO of the company Pranay Chulet grew up in Rajasthan and completed his Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi.
Quikr | Co-Founder | Pranay Chulet
4. Acadboost
Acadboost is started by Kalpit Veerwal, an IIT Bombay student. He has completed his 3rd year of Computer Science Engineering from IIT Bombay and founded AcadBoost Technologies Pvt Ltd in his second year. It is an EdTech startup that aims to provide the correct mentorship to students from experts in various fields of education – ranging from competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, GATE to college.
AcadBoost Online Learning Platform
5. Zomato
After graduating from IIT Delhi, Deepinder Goyal took up work at a company Bain & Co, where he met Pankaj Chaddah, and the duo then started a delivery service Zomato in 2008. Zomato is an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company that provides information, menus, and user reviews of restaurants as well as food delivery options from partner restaurants in select cities. As of 2019, the service is available in 24 countries and in more than 10,000 cities.
Zomato – Online Food Delivery App
Zomato shares made a strong stock market debut on 23rd July 2021, listing at ₹116 apiece on the NSE. Zomato shares surged 53% over the IPO price of ₹76. With the listing, Zomato entered the club of India’s top 100 listed companies with a market capitalization of over ₹90,000 crores. The company’s shares got listed at ₹115 apiece on the BSE.
Khetify is an urban farming venture in New Delhi, India founded by IIT Kharagpur graduates Kaustubh Khare and Saahil Parekh that build farms in urban spaces and enable people to grow chemical-free, fresh food. The aim of the startup is to promote food sustainability to city dwellers.
Khetify Logo
Claiming that 16,000 sq km of rooftop space is being wasted in urban cities, Khetify aims to promote the use of this unutilized space to develop small rooftop farms.
7. InMobi
Founded by Naveen Tewari, an IIT Kanpur graduate. InMobi is an Indian multinational mobile advertising technology company, based in Bangalore. Its mobile-first platform allows brands, developers, and publishers to engage consumers through contextual mobile advertising. In 2008, it was enhanced from SMS-based services to mobile advertising and rebranded as InMobi. It is now competing with giants like Google and Facebook for data-driven mobile advertising. InMobi is one of the top 5 players in the US, China, Southeast Asia, and India. Also, Softbank has invested $200 million in it.
InMobi Logo
8. Housing.com
Housing.com is founded by Rahul Yadav, an IIT Mumbai alumnus. Housing.com is a Mumbai-based real estate search portal that allows customers to search for housing based on geography, number of rooms, and various other filters. Rahul Yadav was featured in the list of Forbes 30 under 30 young Entrepreneurs. He is known as the bad boy of an Indian startup, gaining comparisons from Steve Jobs. And fun fact, he was once fired from a company.
Founded by Sanjay Sethi, an alumnus of IIT Delhi who previously worked in the US in the field of e-commerce marketplace, online payments, and operations. After serving as a key to establishing eBay in India, he started his own company Shopclues, along with Sandeep and Radhika Aggarwal. ShopClues provides unstructured categories of home and kitchen, fashion, electronics, and daily utility items at wholesale rates. In 2019, the company was acquired by Singapore-based Qoo10 in an all-stock deal valued at approximately US$70 million, representing one of the largest valuation meltdowns for an Indian-based startup.
Inspiring words of ShopClues Co-Founder- Radhika Aggarwal
10. Snapdeal
FYI Snapdeal wasn’t an e-commerce company till 2008, but then it was founded by Rohil Bahl and Kunal Bahl, the former has a Wharton degree while the latter has an IIT Delhi, graduation degree under their belt.
Snapdeal Logo
It is now one of the most popular e-commerce websites in India, with over 3,00,000 sellers, over 3 Crore products across 800+ diverse categories from more than 1,25,000 regional, national and international brands and retailers and a reach of 6,000 towns and cities among the country.
What do you mean by the term Acquisitions? On what metrics the company acquires other companies? Is acquiring other competitor companies legal? Which are some of the latest acquired companies? Interesting isn’t it?
According to Investopedia, the definition of Acquisitions is as follows-
An acquisition is when one company purchases most or all of another company’s shares to gain control of that company.
Acquisitions, which are very common in business, may occur with the target company’s approval, or in spite of its disapproval. Some of the parameters needed to be checked before acquiring a company. These metrics should be followed before evaluating an acquisition- Financial value of the company, Asset value of the company, Possible resale value of the company, and its assets.
Read this article to know more about the common questions related to startup acquisitions. We have listed down some of the latest and deal-breaking acquisitions in the Indian Startup Ecosystem.
India, the 3rd largest startup hub in the world is home to many new startups. Every other day we hear about new startups coming up in India. With all these new startups coming up every other day, the competition increases. This leads to acquisitions. The strong prey on the weak or the potential competitor. Recently, the Walmart-Flipkart merger in mid-2018 is the first breakthrough in the minds of many. From a country’s M&As (mergers & acquisitions) viewpoint, this acquisition has been a milestone and still has an ecosystem impact. If the sale was the horse rider or the fact that the ecosystem was more M&A safeguarded, the overall fusions and acquisitions this year have decreased.
As we approach the mid of 2021, there are sudden reports of potential acquisitions and exits in the Indian startup ecosystem. Some of India’s largest startups have made many acquisitions to grow their footprint, grab a larger market share or endure growing competition from competitors, including Tata Motors, Zomato, Snapdeal, Flipkart, and others.
1. Walmart acquires Flipkart
Flipkart and Walmart Logo
With the American retail giant investing 16 billion worth, Walmart‘s takeover of Flipkart is the first-ever in India. But this acquisition was not the country’s first major takeover we saw. Here is a list of some of India’s major fusions and acquisitions. In 2018, Walmart purchased Flipkart 77 percent for $16 billion. This makes it India’s largest acquisition.
In April 2015, Snapdeal acquired the Freecharge smartphone recharge service. It was valued at $400 million for the cash plus equity deal and the largest takeover in Indian internet business history. The partnership brought in about approx. $1.1 billion in financing from Snapdeal, and $120 million from Freecharge in particular. Freecharge remained a separate company after the takeover, allowing Snapdeal to grow its digital trading ecosystem. Snapdeal has had several major acquisitions last year: In the center of this move, China’s giant Alibaba took an interest in Indian eCommerce in Snapdeal.
As announced on March 26th, Tata Motors purchased the Ford Motor Company’s Jaguar Land Rover companies from the company for a net amount of $2.3 billion. In the Jaguar Land Rover pension plans, Ford contributed around US$600 million. Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chief Operating Officer of the Tata Sons and the Chief Financial Officer of the Ford Motor Group, Don Leclair and Mr. Lewis Booth, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Ford of Europe Motor Company and Mr. La Jaguar La Tata Motors attended this ceremony at the Gaydon headquarters at the Jaguar Land Rover.
In May 2014, after months of rumors, India’s leading e-commerce company Flipkart acquired a trendy rival Myntra, a development that had to do with the increasing presence of Amazon in India. None of the parties verified the acquisition’s exact valuation, but sources placed the cash and equity transaction between 300 and 330 million dollars.
Flipkart launched as a supermarket in 2007, offering apparel and electronics in all categories. It also offers furnishings and white products. The change is anticipated to help Flipkart reinforce its clothes collection and contend with Amazon and Snapdeal more vigorously. With his co-founder and CEO Mukesh Bansal joining Flipkart and running the apparel company, Myntra will continue to run as an autonomous entity.
Ola, one of India’s largest ride-hailing operation, acquired TaxiForSure for $200 million as a smaller, but value-centric, cash and equity acquisition in March 2015. Ola’s footprint in the country has been extended by adding TaxiForSure’s 15,000+ fleet onto its network across 47 cities. In October 2014, Ola raised SoftBank $210 million in addition to the 41,5 million dollars it raised earlier, adding over a quarter-billion dollars in overall financing in 2014. When TaxiForSure was acquired, it had 15,000 vehicles in 47 cities on our network a few months after the launch of Ola in January 2011. In India, it has recently been an upright battle between Uber and Ola, who have joined Didi Kuaidi, GrabTaxi, and Lyft globally.
In January 2015, Zomato purchased a 50 million dollar US competitor, Urbanspoon, at what was one of the highest offshore transactions for an Indian startup. The purchase marked Zomato‘s visit to the US, Canada which Australia, and took over 22 countries around the world. The takeover signals the entrance of Zomato in the USA. This is the sixth and largest purchase of Zomato in the last six months. The purchase will rise from 300,000 to 1.000,000 restaurants globally more than three times the inventory of Zomato’s Restaurant. In the coming months, Urbanspoon will pass onto Zomato.com, and the Zomato software will be used by all Urbanspoon app users. Zomato increased the overall amount of venture funds raised by the firm to $113 million from Sequoia, Knowledge Edge, and Vy Capital in November.
A leader among India’s travel reservation sides was the Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip, a pioneer in Indian tourism reservation – which was funded by investors such as Helion Venture Partner, 500 Partners, and Blumberg Capital at the last minute. Mygola, founded by IIT Mumbai in 2009, says travelers can create customs journeys in 15 minutes by using Bapna and Prateek Sharma. It has up to 5000 installations in the Google Playstore on Android and is present in 16 cities worldwide. The acquisition happens as Indian travel is heating up, as an investment in 2015, for the most part, early-stage, has crossed 71 million dollars, compared to 55 million dollars in all of 2014 (about 440 crores).
Let’s discuss some of the frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) related to startup ecosystem..
What do you mean by the term Acquisitions?
An acquisition is when one company purchases most or all of another company’s shares to gain control of that company. Acquisitions, which are very common in business, may occur with the target company’s approval, or in spite of its disapproval.
On what metrics the company acquires other companies?
These metrics should be followed before evaluating an acquisition- Financial value of the company, Asset value of the company, Possible resale value of the company, and its assets.
Is acquiring other competitor companies legal?
Acquisitions, which are very common in business, may occur with the target company’s approval, or in spite of its disapproval.
Which are some of the latest acquired companies?
Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) gained a controlling interest in Mindtree Ltd, raising its stake to 60% in the Bengaluru-based company on 27 June 2019 and successfully concluding India’s first hostile takeover of an IT company.
How do startups get acquired?
The startups that last usually get acquired for their market share before they hit those numbers. Intellectual property is the most common way to build a defensible product. In fact, many startups with a proprietary product get acquired before they even take their solution to the market.
How long does a startup acquisition take?
Corporate mergers and acquisitions can vary considerably in the time they take to be completed. This length of time may span from six months to several years. There are a number of individual steps that need to be completed successfully by two public companies before they are legally combined into a single entity.
Conclusion
Startup acquisitions happened in the past and will keep happening in the future. If there is a slight possibility that the competitor can be a problem in a long run then acquisitions will happen for sure. Investors will keep looking for further IPOs, new firms and acquisitions from publicly traded companies in the subsequent year as the number of acquisitions, and their scale in India is growing. Up until now, they have relied primarily on other startup acquisitions. As the Indian startup ecosystem continues to expand and draw more foreign interest, the value of M&A transactions in the country can only be projected to rise in the coming years accordingly.
Zomato is an online food-delivery startup. Their services are available in 24 countries and around 10,000 cities. There was a recent allegation against a delivery executive of the company by Hitesha Chandranee from Bengaluru. She made an allegation against a Zomato delivery executive and shared some videos on social media explaining the allegation.
In the first video, Hitesha Chandranee said that her Zomato delivery was late. She was talking to the customer care executive of Zomato regarding the order being arrived late. She pointed to her nose which was bleeding and said that while she was talking with the customer care executive, the delivery man hit her nose and ran away.
Hitesha Chandranee uploaded another video on her Instagram profile which gave a detailed explanation of what actually happened. She said that she was working from morning and ordered food from Zomato around 3.30 pm. The delivery was supposed to be made by 4.30 pm.
Since the delivery hadn’t arrived on time, she was following up with the customer care executives. She was explaining to the customer care executives to cancel the order or to provide free delivery for her order.
She later told the delivery executive the same when he had reached with the order. She told him that she was talking to the customer care executive and didn’t wanted to receive the order as it was too late.
She said that the delivery executive started shouting at her, asking her whether he was her slave. In the video, she said that she tried closing the door and the delivery executive pushed the door, snatched the delivery package from her hand, punched her and ran away.
The Plea
The Zomato Delivery executive Kamraj spoke to the media. He said that after he reached her apartment, he handed over the order to Hitesha Chandranee and was expecting to be paid because the mode of payment was COD.
He also told that, he had apologized for the delivery being late and explained to her that it was because of the traffic and bad roads in Bengaluru. He said that, Hitesh Chandranee was very rude from the beginning, and asked him why he was late. Even after the apology she kept on insisting that the delivery was supposed to reach within 45-50 minutes.
Kamraj then said that she had taken the food from him and refused to pay for it. She told him that she was speaking to the customer support and in fear of losing his money, he begged her to pay for the order. And it was at this moment she started shouting and calling him a slave and asked him what he could do.
At that time the Zomato customer care informed Kamraj that the order has been canceled at the request of the customer and he had asked her to return the food. He said that she did not cooperate and because of her actions he decided to leave the apartment without taking the food.
When he was walking towards the lift, she started using abusive words in Hindi and threw her slippers at him and started hitting him. And to defend himself from the ongoing attack he shielded himself using his hands. She then hit herself on her nose with her ring accidentally while trying to move his hand.
Kamraj said that she did not let him go through the lift and he ran down to the third floor. He said that he had called up the Zomato support system executive in Delhi and explained the incident.
Number of orders received by Zomato
Zomato’s Response
As soon as the first video was uploaded by the woman, Zomato’s official Twitter handle had responded saying that a local representative from the company would get in touch with her. They said that they would help her with the police investigation.
Zomato took quick actions. They made a statement saying that the delivery executive was delisted from the app and they empathized and apologised for the incident.
After hearing the delivery executive’s plea, the co-founder of the application has said that they are providing support to both of them to ensure that both sides of the story are heard.
The co-founder of Zomato Deepinder Goyal said that they are in touch with the woman and is covering her medical expenses and helping her with the case. He confirmed that they have temporarily removed access of Kamraj towards the application but they are covering his earnings while the case is going on. They are also covering his legal expenses.
Conclusion
Zomato has said that Kamraj had made 5,000 deliveries for them and is one of the top delivery executives in the app with a average rating of 4.75/5 star. They said that he had been working with them for 26 months. Deepinder Goyal also reminded the public that these were facts and not an opinion. They have provided the information for record purposes.
FAQ
What is the salary of Zomato delivery boy?
Delivery boys earn approximately between ₹ 25,000 per month, depending on factors such as the number of deliveries completed and the distance they cover.
Who is the founder of Zomato?
Deepinder Goyal is the founder and CEO of Zomato.
What is Zomato’s valuation?
As of January 2020, Zomato’s valuation is $3 billion.
Swiggy was founded in the year 2014. It is currently India’s largest delivery and online food ordering platform. It is operating in 100 different cities in the country. Swiggy has been using AI to improve its orders and delivery. Let’s look at the steps taken by the company to use AI for the smooth delivery of its products.
Swiggy has used AI to grow its order value by over 200%. The company said that the real challenge they faced was real-time decisions or optimizing their products. They said that, when the customers are deciding what to order, the delivery executives keep moving around and restaurants get busy with their customers and orders. Finding a balance between these three was the real challenge faced by them.
Customer Sattisfaction
The company stated that first promise they would maintain is that they will deliver the products within the given time period. They have built an AI system, where the customers will be able to see what they would prefer, at what time, etc. in the company’s platform. It is designed using AI which makes it easier for the customers to choose their order.
The platform is built in a way where it would understand the language used to refer to the same item in different names. For example- In India chicken is addressed using different names in different languages and AI helps in making the platform understand that all these different names means the same dish.
Swiggy’s Delivery Executives
The location of the delivery executives is tracked by the company on a real-time basis. They get to know whether the delivery executive is available to fulfill the order or not using the AI system. This will help the company in confirming the order given by the customers.
The company also needs to understand, whether the executive is a new person or an experienced person which is done through an automation Process.
The delivery executives will have to mark arrived, when they reach a restaurant for picking up the order. The company uses live GPS tracking so that they don’t click arrived even before reaching the restaurant. This helps the company to know that they are physically present in the restaurant.
Valuation of Swiggy ($m)
Swiggy’s AI Solution for Restaurants
In the same way, restaurants will also face similar challenges. It would take different time periods to prepare different dishes. Some may take 20 minutes while others may take up to 30 minutes to prepare. The company has built systems to take into account how much time would it require to prepare the dishes ordered by the customers.
Another area where the company concentrates is on food quality. Sometimes the customer would receive a different dish from the one they would have ordered. The company has built a box that has a camera in it, which will take pictures of the food to ensure that it is the right food. The company informed that it is a computer vision model based on deep learning.
Time and Space
The other prime factor the company takes into consideration is the time and space input. The uniqueness of on-demand services is that the customers need would change according to the time and location. The platform understands, whether it’s morning or afternoon and shows the restaurants and dishes accordingly.
AI Strategy
Swiggy has hired an AI team from across the globe. They have hired individuals who hold multiple PHDs from international universities, and people who work as senior scientists in places like GE research and IBM.
They have built a separate team dedicated only to applied research. This team is different from the data science team. This team will concentrate on solving the problems of the next 100 customers, while there is a team that looks at immediate problems.
The company receives terabytes of data weekly and around 40 billion messages per day. Swiggy has worked on putting this data to develop and build Machine Learning models. The company has said that they have also partnered to get third-party data.
Swiggy is also working on Artificial Intelligence on computer vision where for example a picture of a menu is automatically taken and converted into a file.
They are looking forward to building long-term capability by partnering with other research institutions and industries which are external. Swiggy has also partnered with various universities and institutions where they would fund the research programme and innovative ideas.
This is a step where the university students and Swiggy scientists would be able to work together in developing innovative models. They have also partnered with Amazon Web Services and a lot of startups.
FAQ
Who is the Founder of Swiggy?
Swiggy was founded by Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, and Rahul Jaimini.
What is the valuation of Swiggy?
Swiggy has a total valuation of $1 billion.
How many orders a day does Swiggy have?
Swiggy has a high number of orders with 1.4 million orders a day.
Conclusion
Swiggy has also made efforts to introduce Artificial Intelligence across the organization. This would help everyone build models around it. They have launched a training programme for their teams, analysts and even business leaders which is “AI for All”.
The vision of the company is to make AI part of their culture which has led them to build the capability and knowledge in the organization said Swiggy’s technological head.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization, Dineout.
We all love good food and not only to survive! It doesn’t matter whether it is traditional or international. But due to the hustle and bustle all around, people aren’t able to go to the spot and book their seats. Or the tables were already booked when you get the restaurant and you don’t get a fair chance to sit and eat. These leaves most of us to settle for else and just get the same old takeout you always opt for. But not anymore.
Because, Dineout is here – your new go-to restaurant table reservation service company. It helps its customers find tables in their favourite restaurants and enables users to get exciting offers along with it. Read the Dineout success story below and find out the unknown details such as the story of the founders of Dineout’s, Dineout’s business model, revenue, competitors and much more.
Dineout enables its customers to book tables onlinewithout having to physically go to the spot. It is a restaurant technology company based in India. The service is available in more than 20 cities in India and is looking to expand.
In the year 2010, Ankit Mehrotra was in London and his school friend Sahil Jain was in the US. They often came together to India. Every time they visited they had the same question.
“Where do we go out tonight?”
Asking their family members or friends never turned out to be fruitful. Because they always suggested the same places. After going back to London and the U.S. they found their regular jobs to be boring. They thought of solving the restaurant discovery problem. In February 2011 Sahil left his job and came back to Delhi. Ankit followed a few months later. They convinced two of their other school friends – Vivek Kapoor and Nikhil Bakshi to join the startup later. InSeptemberDineoutgotregisteredasanonlinetable reservation platform. Things weren’t easy for the four school friends. In its early days, they faced 20 rejections. The first restaurant partner of the company was Ruby Tuesday. Google Ads helped the company get a lot for recognition in the initial days. On February 29th 2012, the company went live with 75 restaurants in Delhi.
Dineout – Founders And Team
AnkitMehrotra, VivekKapoor, NikhilBakshi and SahilJain are the founders of the company Dineout.
Ankit Mehrotra is the founder and the CEO of Dineout. He started here in early 2012. He started his career as an analyst at BNP Paribas. He pursued his bachelor’s degree in Computers and Telecommunications Engineering in the year 2011. After that, he completed his education from the CFA Institute.
Vivek Kapoor is the co-founder of Dineout. Before, he was the chief officer at British Petroleum. He completed his schooling from Modern School in the year 2002.
Nikhil Bakshi is also the co-founder of Dineout. Before, he was the manager of DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund. He pursued his B.Com degree from Delhi University.
Sahil Jain is one of the founders of Dineout. He started his career as a Software Engineer in Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd. Also, he was the Senior Business Analyst and Associate Manager at Mu Sigma. For 9 months, he was the Senior Market Analyst at Nextag.
Nikhil Bakshi, Ankit Mehrotra, Sahil Jain and Vivek Kapoor (left to right) Founders, Dineout
Dineout – Logo
Dineout Logo
Dineout – Business Model
The Dineout business model is rather simple. The company offers its customers many B2B and B2C services. The aim of the company is to serve its consumers by helping them book tables in hotels and restaurants. It has made deals with pubs and restaurants to help customers find the best offers. They give discounts for their promotion and also whenever there is an increase in downloads.
The company charges an annual subscription price from the restaurant partners. As well as from the consumers. It also makes money on every transaction done through the platform. But it varies as per restaurants and cities.
Dineout – Funding, Investors And Acquisitions
Funding rounds
Date
Transaction Name
Money Raised
Lead Investor
January 24, 2014
Series A
–
–
Investments
The company has made only one investment. Dineout has invested money on Adurcup on September 14, 2015. The money raised is an undisclosed amount. Money was raised from the Angel Round.
Acquisitions
Dineout has acquired 2 organisations. The most recent acquisition was Binge Digital. The announced date was on August 9th 2019. The price is an undisclosed amount. The company also acquired Torqus Systems on November 28, 2018.
Dineout – Growth
The company showed a sustainable growth of 154% in the year 2019. The average number of diners before 2019 it was 8 lakhs per month. But in the year 2019, after the GIRF, the number of diners jumped to over 16 lakhs per month.
Dineout – Competitors
The top Dineout competitors are EazyDiner, Zomato, HungryNaki to name a few.
EazyDiner is the topmost rival of Dineout. It was founded in the year 2014. It is headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. The company also operates in the Application Software space.
Zomato is an Indian restaurant aggregator and food delivery startup. It was founded by Pankaj Chaddah and Deepinder Goyal in the year 2008.
HungryNaki is an online food delivery service in Bangladesh. It is the first and premium one among all the others.
The company started expanding into international markets. Across Asia, Africa, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and East Africa. Dineout is also spreading its wings towards Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India. This change will be taking place because the brands will soon open up outlets in the Tier 2 cities.`
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
What is Dineout app?
Dineout is a restaurant table reservation service company founded in 2012 based in New Delhi, India.
Who is the owner of Dineout?
Dineout was founded by Ankit Mehrotra, Nikhil Bakshi, Sahil Jain and Vivek Kapoor in 2012.
What is Dineout net worth?
Dineout is processes more than 100 Million diners and $800 Million worth of transactions across its network of 50,000 partner restaurants in 20 cities. The exact networth of Dineout is unknown.
When was Dineout founded?
Dineout was founded in 2011 and the site went live in 2012.
The application of technology to food innovation forms the core of the foodtech vertical. Nicolas Appert’s improvement in 1810 of the canning procedure is an early example of foodtech innovation. The emphasis was on safeguarding sustenance. The procedure wasn’t called canning at that point, and Appert didn’t know the rule on which his procedure worked. Canning has majorly affected foodtech conservation strategies.
Louis Pasteur’s exploration of the deterioration of wine and his portrayal of how to keep away from decay in 1864 was another example of foodtech development or food based startups. Other than examining wine deterioration, Pasteur explored the creation of liquor, vinegar, wines and brew, and the souring of milk. He focused on warming milk and milk items to pulverize food deterioration. In his investigation into sustenance innovation, Pasteur turned into a pioneer of bacteriology and paved way for preventive measures.
Food sustenance using tech was dull before 2018; however, it has rebounded from the stagnation. From a daily request volume of 3.7 lakh in 2017, as mentioned by RedSeer Consulting, the number expanded to 15 lakh as of September 2018. Unmistakably, the hunger for Foodtech is developing among buyers and speculators. After a phase where footech ventures like Tiny Owl, Yumist, and Dazo shut operations, things are now looking positive.
“In the last six to eight months, numerous littler players have come in, while taxi aggregators have stretched out their administrations to the Foodtech accumulation space. With Ola gaining Foodpanda and Uber propelling Uber Eats, the challenge has increased in the market,” says Rohan Agarwal, a commitment administrator at RedSeer Consulting.
Swiggy is the market chief in the sustenance accumulation space, timing around six lakh everyday orders, while Zomato is at a close second with near 5.2 lakh orders daily. Uber Eats, given its extension binge, has figured out how to topple Ola’s Foodpanda with around three lakh orders, while the latter serves nearly 2.5 lakh orders every day through its mobile app and website.
In October, Foodpanda propelled its conveyance administration in 30 new urban areas, taking its aggregate to 50 urban areas crosswise over India. The target is to convey foodtech services in 100 urban areas. Foodpanda was acquired by SoftBank-supported Ola in December 2017. At the time, the taxi-hailing stage declared it would put $200 million in Foodpanda’s sustenance conglomeration business. Be that as it may, Ola’s rival has ended up being a considerable opponent in this space. Propelled in May 2017, Uber Eats put its focus on clients and baited them with heavy limits and first-request offers.
Food Tech Industry in India
At present, Uber Eats is accessible in 37 urban areas in India and Southeast Asia and plans to multiply rapidly. “At some random topography, buyers can browse more than 30 foods on a normal,” says a Uber Eats representative. The more settled players, Zomato and Swiggy, have been growing their impressions. Zomato is looking at the level II-III urban areas for development. “We have our services in 59 urban cities in India. Our transient objective is to twofold down on our development by growing to more level of II-III urban areas in India and building profundity in level I advertises,” says a Zomato representative. “We have extended to 37 such urban cities in the past four months, and the reaction has just surpassed our desires.”
Then, Swiggy conveys sustenance in 45 urban areas across India through its conveyance armada of more than one lakh riders. The aggregator claims to have a relationship with more than 45,000 cafés. Regardless of how reassuring the pattern, the reality remains that dedication sidesteps the Foodtech tech space. Purchasers rush to those offering the best arrangements or limits.
Foodtech aggregators get a lot of their income through the commission charged on requests. Contingent upon the request size and the city, aggregators charge 15-30% commission to the eatery setting up the foodtech. Recuperating the expense of activity stays a test. Aside from commissions, in-application publicizing and reliability projects are different wellsprings of income for the aggregators.
Some of them have begun facilitating cloud kitchen systems to get an advantage. Consider the Swiggy Access program, which permits its café accomplices to set up kitchen spaces in territories where they don’t have a nearness. Propelled in 2019, it appears to have worked for the organization. “We have Swiggy Access kitchens in different cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. Around 70% of our accomplice cafés are hoping to work with us in more than one Access,” says Vishal Bhatia, CEO of new supply, Swiggy. Over the long haul, Swiggy plans to convey as much as 20-25% of its requests from these conveyances from Access kitchens.
India is a leading opportunity for foodtech companies. That is why many foodtech companies In India have already started their journey. So, the list of food tech companies in India are:
Food Panda
Foodpanda | Foodtech Companies In India
The Big Daddy of em’ all! Foodpanda is India’s most popular foodtech startup. It has a solid national nearness by tying up with more than 2000 sustenance sellers, for example, Wendy’s, Burger King, Subway, Biryani Blues, and Southy. They have a broad scope of worldwide and national cooking styles in their menu. Foodpanda has an effective operational procedure and uses exclusive innovation to follow sustenance request conveyances until the client’s entryway.
Zomato
Zomato | Food Tech Industry in India
Zomato is one of the successfulfood startups in India which is driving sustenance tech organizations alongside Foodpanda and Swiggy. It has more than 42,000 cafés recorded several urban areas in India, and it additionally works in more than 23 nations. On the off chance that it lives up to its guarantee, Zomato will become the principal Indian food startups or organisation. Its technique is substance-driven with low client obtaining costs, and a greater part of its income originates from promotion and publicity.
Swiggy
Swiggy | Food Startups
Bangalore-based Swiggy was established by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini in 2014. Swiggy has more than 9000 eateries under its umbrella. It is one of the biggest food tech startups in India. The client gets convenient conveyances and constant following of their requests using Swiggy’s application at no additional conveyance charge. Swiggy doesn’t have a base request approach for each eatery it is tied up with over its application.
Faasos
Established by INSEAD graduates Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee in 2011, Faasos food tech startup has its presence in more than 15 noteworthy urban communities over India. An ideal case of a disconnected chain that went on the web, Faasos has a kitchen with master culinary experts.
Established in 2014 by Rashmi Daga, who by chance happens to be a veggie-lover, FreshMenu works in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurgaon. FreshMenu began with a modest one kitchen and has nearly 30 kitchens today serving universal food. It plans to expand to 80 kitchens in the coming years. It has a proficient group of 500 representatives in their kitchens who cook in-house, and have their very own conveyance group.
Box8
Established by two IIT graduates Amit Raj and Anshul Gupta, Box8 the Indian food startup serves credible Indian food much like how pizzas and burgers are conveyed to clients, for example, quick, simple and in a box Box8 has structured the ‘Across the board’ dinner box, a cutting edge, satisfying Indian feast which can be eaten anywhere at any time. Box8 has given an Indian curve to everything, from wraps and sandwiches to curries. The USP lies in item improvement.
Box8’s paranthas are produced using whole wheat and cooked in a negligible measure of oil. None of its dishes is broiled. It has a collection of frozen yoghurts, feast boxes, wraps, sandwiches, plates of mixed greens, and treats. 85% of the exchanges are from rehash clients, making Box8 a commendable contextual investigation for a long-haul supportable model.
HolaChef
HolaChef is the food startup in India which wasEstablished by IIT-Bombay graduates Saxena, Anil Gelra, and Ritu Rana, Mumbai based Hola Chef is sponsored by Mr Ratan Tata who has been placing his cash in a few advanced organisations recently. HolaChef conveys home-prepared food to its buyers while dealing with the total coordination of the sustenance, for example, bundling, stockpiling, and conveyance. It has developed from a humble 200 requests for every month in 2014 to more than 1 lakh orders each month in 2016. Almost 66% of its all-out requests are through the application available for Android and Apple phones.
Gurgaon-based Yumist was established by ex-Zomato CMO Alok Jain and Abhimanyu Maheshwari, a prepared F&B business person in 2014. At present, Yumist caters to the locales of Delhi, Noida, and Gurgaon. With an intense blend of foodtech, coordination, and innovation, Yumist possesses and controls the whole sustenance conveyance store network. Yumist considers the “dabbawala” and “corporate bottles” as its essential rivals and intends to reconsider the cost of its suppers to draw more clients and beat challenges. Yumist has shut down operations in Bangalore and plans to grow in Mumbai and Pune. It was in the news recently for raising Rs. 12 crores.
Cook Gourmet
This novel Gurgaon-based startup was launched by Sanny Chaudhary and Daman Singh Kohli. Cook Gourmet offers expert-curated plans comprising of different delicacies. These hand-picked plans are conveyed in an ice-pressed box, the cut vegetables and meat vacuum-fixed with the goal that they stay crisp until you cook them in the solaces of your home. They stay fresh up to 3 days when refrigerated. Indeed, even an amateur in cooking can expertly cook with the instructional exercises given in Cook Gourmet’s offerings.
At present, the Indian food services is a $50 billion industry when contrasted with the US Food Services Industry, which is worth almost around $600 billion. Large scale patterns like family units, more ladies joining the workforce, and higher expendable livelihoods are going to make the food tech industry in India develop at a high rate.
With Zomato and Swiggy getting to be unicorn triumphs and online Foodtech conveyance requests crossing 1 million in daily conveyances, it is unquestionable that the Indian sustenance tech and administrations industry is a hot topic currently.
Skip The Queue – Foodtech Industry
Moderateness And Openness
The normal individual expends three dinners every day and roughly 90 suppers per month. Out of this, in India, individuals eat out or get sustenance conveyance possibly 3-4 times each month. In nations like China or Singapore, this can be as high as 50 dinners a month ate out or conveyed, as there are more decisions, quick conveyance, and reasonableness from sustenance organizations.
A normal individual in India might want to spend between Rs 50-200 for their normal supper, and Foodtech conveyance organizations are attempting to hit the sweet spot of this range. Foodtech conveyance coordinations are showing signs of improvement and less expensive, with the growing number of orders and higher thickness of the populace in urban areas.
Expanding Number Of Homegrown Eat-in Chains
Dominos India with over 1,000 outlets, is doing Rs 3,000 crores yearly. Eatery networks like Barbeque Nation are accomplishing more than Rs 500 crores in business every year. There will be a lot more eat-in chains, with more than $1 billion yearly incomes, from India soon. Bunches of these eat-in chains like Farzi Cafe, Mamagato, Saravana Bhawan, and Yellow Chili have started extending outside India to scale quickly.
There are heaps of conveyance kitchens like Faasos, Box8, FreshMenu, and Biryani By Kilo which have more than 10-20 outlets each and is extending quickly. Given the high rental and CapEx required to eat in eateries, no one but kitchens can give better quality dinners at progressively moderate costs to clients, all in the comfort of clients’ homes and workplaces.
Biryani Is The Newest Pizza
Biryani is a conveyance class, specifically in India, will outperform pizza soon because of its taste, flavorful fragrances, and better life span.
Enormous Retailers And Taxi Companies Are Gathering
Premium friendliness brands around the world like Zuma Dine-in/Lounge and Nobu, with a couple of outlets each, do around $200 million in yearly deals or more. Huge organizations like McDonald’s and Starbucks accomplish more than $20 billion in deals. Overall foodtech conveyance organizations like Deliveroo, Delivery Hero, GrubHub, and Just Eat are huge unicorns today. Enormous retailers like Amazon and on-request taxi organizations like Uber and Ola need a bit of the sustenance conveyance for advertisements. Recurrence in foodtech utilization is a lot higher than most other web-based business classes, including taxi administrations.
According to RedSeer Consulting, the foodtech industry grew 150% from $120 million in 2015 to $300 million in gross product esteem in 2016. The business remained at a similar level in 2017 even as the foodtech vertical slithered again into a period of recovery from the unpleasant days. As per RedSeer,, the industry is on course to touch $2.5-3.5 billion by 2021.
The sustenance conveyance space saw 63 arrangements worth $274 million in 2015. The number of arrangements tumbled to 43 in 2016, adding up to $78 million. Although 2017 saw 20 subsidizing bargains, the combined estimation of those speculations was $124 million.
Fund Raised By Foodtech Companies in India
A commercial center totals and publicizes cafés other than maintaining a tech-driven coordinations foundation to convey sustenance. Then again, a cloud kitchen is a fairly intricate instrument where administrators endeavour to fabricate various parts of the foodtech business such as brand, tech foundation, etc.
Zomato, Swiggy, and Foodpanda are the prevailing commercial centres in India, while FreshMenu, Box8, Faasos, and HolaChef are unadulterated play cloud kitchens.
While Zomato and Swiggy keep on commanding the business, Ola’s pledge to infuse $200 million into Foodpanda India to grow its business is probably going to make it the third solid player in the game.
While Ola has the imperative capacities regarding coordinations, organize, and on-ground foundation, it is to be seen whether it can transform sustenance conveyance into a beneficial business. Ola had propelled two sustenance related activities in 2015 (Ola Cafe and Ola Store) and the shut the same in 2016 to concentrate on its central business.
Sustenance conveyance and other foodtech organizations in India commonly work on razor-slight edges. Foodpanda just as its fundamental adversaries, Zomato and Swiggy, are making misfortunes. Foodpanda, in any case, has lost less on each rupee in income than Zomato and Swiggy in 2017.
Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which runs Swiggy, timed income of Rs 133 crore in 2016-17, a six-crease increment from Rs 20 crore in the earlier year. Its misfortunes extended to Rs 205 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 137 crore the earlier year as costs increased dramatically. The three-year-old startup is one of the most encouraging sustenance conveyance players in the market right now.
As indicated by a few media reports in November, Japanese telecom and Internet aggregate SoftBank was in discourses to contribute around $200-250 million (Rs 1,288-1,610 crore) in the homegrown foodtech conveyance stage. Reports additionally demonstrated that Chinese e-rear Alibaba likewise was investigating a conceivable interest through Ant Financial, its money related administrations member.
Another media report in November recommended that Flipkart and Tencent were investigating alternatives to co-put $100 million into Swiggy. There were additional reports of a potential Swiggy-Zomato merger.
Swiggy has raised more than $155.5 million until this point. It raised $80 million in a Series E round driven by South African innovation aggregate Naspers. Swiggy is additionally supported by Accel India, SAIF Partners India, Bessemer Venture Partners, Harmony Partners, and Norwest Venture Partners.
Zomato posted an income of Rs 332.3 crore in 2016-17, up 81% from Rs 183.9 crore in 2015-16. It limited its misfortunes to Rs 389 crore from Rs 590.1 crore. Zomato, in any case, isn’t only a Foodtech conveyance organization yet additionally offers café postings, table reservations, and different administrations.
The year likewise observed cloud kitchen administrator FreshMenu break into the best-five club of online foodtech organizations, on account of a noteworthy increment in income for 2015-16. It got a fix on the cloud kitchen model much before other foodtech businesses and has adhered to it.
Future Of Foodtech Services In India
Development in the market is foreseen by expanding discretionary cashflow, developing normal family unit pay, and rising pattern of twofold salary no-kids idea. Supported by developing web entrance from 10% in 2011 to 27% by 2015, expanding cell phone clients from 123 million in 2014 to 167 million by 2015, combined with maturing internet business market and rising youthful working populace, the food tech advertise in India is foreseen to develop at a vigorous pace.
Journey And Future Of Foodtech Industry
Another point of interest for foodtech organizations in India is the developing youth populace, fundamentally in urban districts of the nation. The nation has a huge base of youthful buyers who work in offices and don’t have the time to cook.
In India, the idea of requesting foodtech online is gaining pace due to benefits like conveyance of sustenance at the doorstep of the client, choice of interchange instalment techniques, and consistent declaration of alluring cashback/limits offers.
Growth Of Foodtech Industry in India
Based on activity type, the India foodtech market has been sectioned into two classes: café-based and sustenance aggregators. In 2015, eatery-based (i.e., café-based) ruled the general market and is foreseen to keep up its strength throughout the following five years.
The foodtech aggregator section is relied upon to outpace café-based fragments sometime soon. Foodtech aggregators go about as a middle person between clients and eateries and give the alternative of browsing various cooking styles from different café and sustenance outlets enlisted with them.
“Yum Foods, Jubilant Foodworks, Zoamto, and McDonald’s are the main players in India food tech showcase. These players are foreseen to keep up their strength in the market through 2021, transcendently because of their future extension plans. With expanding private value and investment subsidizing, the food tech organizations are centring towards growing their business in Tier II and III urban communities crosswise over India.
With developing challenge, online sustenance requesting organizations are concentrating on giving quicker conveyance in significant metro urban communities to expand their client base.”, said Mr Karan Chechi, Research Director at TechSci Research, an examination-based worldwide administration counselling firm.
Food technology is a branch of food science that deals with the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of the food products.
What is the food tech business model?
the Indian food-tech industry has evolved immensely and engineered new ways to make profits. Prominent companies viz. Swiggy, Zomato, and Uber Eats have built up new business models, which enable them to serve better, besides merely focusing on the food delivery business.
How technology has affected the food industry?
By using tech to improve processing and packaging, it can improve the shelf life and safety of food. The use of machines in the food industry also ensures quality and affordability. By using machines, it drives down the costs of keeping the food fresh and increases productivity.
What are the food tech startup ideas or What are the tips to build food based startups in India?
Tips to build your food based startups in India or food tech startup ideas:
Focus on the product and keep it simple. Get busy in your kitchen to make small batches and go out to make people trying your product.
Start selling from day one & ask for feedback.
Be obsessed with gathering data.
Review feedback and be ready to go back to the drawing board.
The government of India brought in a lot of changes in the FDI norms. This was done keeping in mind the nation’s condition amidst the global pandemic. The main aim was to prevent foreign companies from opportunistic take overs of Indian firms.
The recent investments made their point on curbing Chinese investments in Indian Firms. As per the new FDI norm any country that shares a land border with India will no longer be able to use the automatic route in the FDI. The companies who would like to invest must seek government’s clearance over any investment proposal.
The changes were brought in late April earlier this year. The main aim was to stop Chinese Investors from their predatory behavior. These rules would be applied on countries such as Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Afghanistan. But there is a very small flow of investments from these countries. So, this is evident that the norms are to keep an eye on China for any signs of exploitative behavior.
All this was not done on any sudden decision. The reason behind all this is form the year 2015. Since 2015 China has increased its investment in India. This looks like a very strategic move. According to a report by the DPIIT, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The total amount of FDI that has flown from China to India is around $1.8 Billion. All this within a 2015-2019. In the year 2015 itself there was an investment of total $494.75 million.
The industry that has particularly caught the eye of the Chinese investor is the Indian Automobile Industry. Between the same period that is from 2015-2019. The automobile Industry has seen a total investment of $876.30 million. The electrical equipment manufacturing along with the book printing sectors have also seen a hug inflow. All this FDI flow confirms the foothold of Chinese investors in the nation.
Yearly FDI Inflows (in USD Million)
The companies that would be affected the most would be the companies like BigBasket, Paytm and Ola. These companies are just collateral damages of the governments new rules to protect minor companies. The online Grocery vendor Gofers along with the digital payment app and OLA have received millions of dollars as investment from Chinese Investors.
The new norms would effect the fresh funds that were supposed to role in.
“The new FDI guidelines essentially imply Chinese capital would require prior government approval. In effect, given the uncertainty around approval, startups will shy away from Chinese capital. In the immediate future, this could impact PhonePe and potentially Paytm at a later date,” said Ashneer Grover, CEO and co-founder, BharatPe
According to a report by the Think Tank Gateway House a total of $4 Billion has been invested in Indian startups by the Chinese tech investors. Another report said that 18 of India’s 30 Unicorn Startups are funded by Chinese Investors.
BigBasket the online grocery store got a $50 million funding from Alibaba. This investment rolled in when the company was facing its own share of problems in the lockdown. But these new FDI norms would hit the company. BigBasket would face troubles for its capital infusions with Alibaba. BigBasket would now have to search other places to reach its requirements on the basis of investments.
Paytm raised a huge sum of $1 Billion from the Soft Bank in Japan and from Ant Financial from Alibaba. Paytm faces tough competition from Google and PhonePe(owned by Walmart). To fight these competitors Paytm has to be always on the edge of innovation . But the company would face a major fallback after the new norms. Alibaba is the largest share holder in the company. This would indeed affect the digital payments platform.
Alibaba’s Ant Financial has been an investor in Zomato since the year 2018. Ant Financial invested $210 million in the food delivery app. It go a stake of 14.7%. By this Ant Financial became the company’s Largest investor. This stake was raised to 23%. According to news reports this was going to be increased earlier this year. But between that the Indian government revised its FDI norms.
18 of the 30 Unicorn Startups who are funded by Chinese Investors would face a lot of troubles. The move of making changes in the FDI norms is to hurt the Chinese Investors. But this would hurt the unicorn startups. This move has put many jobs on risk.
Varad Kitey
