Zomato Shares Skyrocket In India’s Stock Market Debut

Food delivery startup Zomato skyrocketed in its stock market debut in India on Friday (July 23), Reuters and other news outlets reported.

Backed by Ant Group, which has a 16.53 percent stake in Zomato, the startup is India’s first unicorn and the first food delivery platform to go public in the country. Indian technology firm Info Edge has an 18.55 percent stake in Zomato.

Shares of Zomato surged 82.8 percent in pre-open trade at 116 rupees, a 53 percent premium over the offer price of 76 rupees for the 93.75 billion rupees initial public offering (IPO), per Reuters. The company now has a valuation of approximately $12 billion.

Research firm RedSeer said the food delivery market in India is worth an estimated $4.2 billion, Reuters reported. Zomato’s main competitors are Swiggy, backed by SoftBank, and Amazon’s food delivery unit.

Zomato was founded in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal, who serves as CEO, and Pankaj Chaddah, and has a presence in more than 525 cities in India and partnerships with almost 390,000 restaurants.

“Our 10+ year journey has not always been smooth. We have lived through many ups and downs – something not every company has the privilege of living long enough to do. I have made many decisions which have been good for the company, while some have caused our stakeholders a lot of heartburn,” Zomato founder and CEO Goyal said in a blog post.

“That said, we have found ourselves managing times of crisis on different occasions in much the same way – impatiently staying focused on the long term, executing relentlessly, and committing ourselves to doing the very best we can do today,” he said, adding that the company still has “a long way to go” to become the “world-class” company it aims to become.

Ahead of Zomato’s IPO, the company raised $562.3 million from Tiger Global Management, Fidelity, New World, Baillie Gifford, Government of Singapore, Canada Pension Plan, Mirae Asset, T. Rowe Price and Steadview.