India food delivery platform Zomato ventures into finance to support restaurant partners
INDIA – Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company Zomato is venturing into finance in an effort to support its restaurant partners.
According to a report by ET Retail, the company’s board has approved the incorporation of a non-banking finance company (NBFC), which will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zomato.
While the name of the subsidiary is still to be decided, Zomato is in process of acquiring the NBFC license.
Sources at the company revealed to ET Retail that NBFC company will help Zomato provide loans to its restaurant partners who number about 50000.
Earlier, Zomato had partnered with InCred to help cash-strapped food businesses, operating under the Zomato food delivery platform across India, by offering zero processing fees on credit from 1st September 2021 till 31st October 2021.
The partnership was aimed at supporting businesses working with Zomato to overcome any credit crunch with tailor-made solutions.
To qualify for a loan, businesses in need of credit had to be listed on Zomato for at least six months and have a monthly business of Rs 30,000 to benefit from the offer.
The move to create its own NBFC just shows Zomato’s determination to make credit more accessible to its partners across India.
Zomato ups stake in Adonmo & UrbanPiper
Meanwhile, the food delivery and restaurant discovery platform, has informed the Indian stock exchanges that it is investing in a digital advertising company, Adonmo, and in a food ordering system, UrbanPiper.
According to the regulatory filing, Zomato is upping its stake in Adonno to 19.48% for a cash consideration of Rs 112.20 crore
Adonmo is an ad-tech company that helps in providing targeted digital advertising to outdoor digital screens.
Its proprietary technology enables cloud-connected digital screens with contextual and targeted advertising capabilities.
Zomato is also picking up a 5% stake for Rs 37.38 crore in UrbanPiper Technologies, a business-to-business (B2B) software platform that acts as a middle layer between restaurants and food-delivery players.
The company currently processes around 12 million orders a month and boasts of a network of over 23,000 restaurant locations in the country.
“Both UrbanPiper and Adonmo investments are synergistic to our core business and will help accelerate the growth of these companies which will help in filling important gaps in the food ordering and delivery ecosystem in India,” said Zomato as a part of its BSE filing.
The fresh investments by Zomato are a part of its larger strategy to back startups. Last year, the company said it plans to invest US$1 billion in Indian startups over the next two years.
It had announced investments in fitness platform, Curefit, hyperlocal discovery business, Magicpin, and logistics firm Shiprocket.
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