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Business India News

Zomato share price falls 50%

Investors who hold shares of food aggregator Zomato became poorer by nearly 50 per cent since the start of 2022…reports Asian Lite News

To be precise, they lost 49 per cent in the year-to-date period as the stock hit an all-time low.

Reports that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had ordered a detailed probe against food delivery platforms, Zomato and Swiggy, for alleged unfair business practices with respect to their dealings with restaurant partners also weighed on the share prices recently.

The two online food delivery platforms are allegedly involved in delayed payment cycles and exorbitant commissions.

Post the CCI’s order, Zomato said in a regulatory filing to the exchanges that it will continue to work closely with the Commission to assist them with their investigation and explain to the regulator why all of its practices are in compliance with competition laws and do not have any adverse effect on competition in India.

Also, in the recent months, mutual funds and foreign portfolio investors too have sold some of their shares in the company, according to reports.

On Friday, the shares of the food aggregator settled 2.5 per cent lower at Rs 72.

Meanwhile, restaurant management platform UrbanPiper on Monday announced it has raised $24 million led by existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global, and new investors Swiggy and Zomato.

The platform aims to use the funds to scale its product and engineering teams and looks to expand to more than 200,000 restaurant locations globally in the next two years.

“With this investment, we will continue to widen UrbanPipera’s offerings to meet many more digital opportunities in the restaurant ecosystem, along with bolstering our platform capabilities,” said Saurabh Gupta, CEO, UrbanPiper.

UrbanPiper has restaurant chains such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, Subway, Cure Foods, Taco Bell, Rebel Foods, etc., among its user base.

It currently processes over 18 per cent of all online food orders placed each month in India, and has achieved 10 times growth over the past two years, the company said in a statement.

Other investors also participated in the round, including Pankaj Chaddah (Shyft), Ankit Nagori (Curefoods), Saahil Goel and Vishesh Khurana (Shiprocket), Khadim Bhatti and Vara Kumar (Whatfix), among others.

The restaurant management platform is live in more than 27,000 restaurant locations across eight countries.

ALSO READ: Shiprocket To Fuel Zomato

Through UrbanPiper, restaurants can integrate aggregators onto a single dashboard and connect it with their points of sale resulting in a 70 per cent decrease in order failure.

It currently processes 14 million orders per month, which equates to approximately US $750 million of estimated order value annually.

“UrbanPiper is one of our key partners enabling us to seamlessly engage with restaurants and scale faster through their point-of-sale solutions,” said Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy.

“Sequoia Capital India is excited to deepen the partnership with the UrbanPiper team as they build further on their mission to empower restaurants globally, and welcome Zomato and Swiggy to this partnership,” added Shraeyansh Thakur, Principal, Sequoia India.

UrbanPiper plans to increase its headcount in the country to more than 250 in the next year.

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Business India News World

Shiprocket To Fuel Zomato

Logistics technology platform Shiprocket on Friday said it has signed a definitive agreement for a $185 million (Rs 1,380 crore) Series E funding round, co-led by Zomato, Temasek and Lightrock India…reports Asian Lite News

This marks Shiprocket’s third round of funding in 2021, bringing the total funds raised to $280 million.

Shiprocket focuses on providing Amazon Prime-like shipping experiences for sellers and consumers across India in direct-to-consumer e-commerce.

Shiprocket To Fuel Zomato

“We are excited about the vast, untapped opportunity that lies in post-purchase technology enablement in the D2C e-commerce space. This fundraise is a validation of the hard work put in by the entire Shiprocket team over the last 4 years,” said Saahil Goel, CEO and Co-founder, Shiprocket.

New investors, Moore Strategic Ventures and 9unicorns, are also participating in this round, along with existing investors, InfoEdge Ventures and March Capital.

Launched in 2017, Shiprocket is the fastest company to become profitable in 24 months while also doubling its ARR (annual run rate) over the last 6 months.

Shiprocket said it will deploy fresh funds towards aggressive core product expansion, research and development, talent acquisition, and development of a comprehensive suite of products for retailers.

“With the launch of our services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in November 2021, we have also taken the first step towards expanding our footprint in new geographies,” said Goel.

ALSO READ: Zomato Offers Zero Commission Takeaway for Restaurants

Shiprocket also provides a technology stack to help retailers integrate their shopping websites on Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Zoho and others for workflow, inventory and order management.

“Shiprocket plugs a big hole in the e-commerce space by offering customers of direct-to-consumer brands a seamless post checkout experience, including delivery,” said Deepinder Goyal, CEO and Co-founder, Zomato.

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COVID-19 India News Lite Blogs

Tech leaders urge to help ‘breathless India’

He also called up start-ups and companies to contribute at this crucial hour…reports Asian Lite News.

Oxygen shortage has become a huge crisis in India. More than two weeks after oxygen shortages were reported across India, particularly in the national capital, many technology leaders have come forward to help the citizens.

“We have sourced supplies for oxygen concentrators of different sizes while we place the order using our own money. We want you to join hands in solving #OxygenShortage,” Vijay Shekhar, Founder Paytm said in a tweet on Sunday.

“Donate here https://paytm.com/offer/donateoxygen and we will match your contribution and use it to source OCs. Also, do RT,” he added.

Foodtech platform Zomato on Wednesday rolled out a priority delivery feature for Covid-19 emergencies, including oxygen, Chief Executive Officer Deepinder Goyal announced on Twitter.

“Zomato Feeding India, our not-for-profit has kickstarted the “Help Save My Indiaa endeavour today in association with @delhivery to source oxygen concentrators and related supplies to help hospitals and families in need,” Goyal tweeted.

He also called up start-ups and companies to contribute at this crucial hour.

“We have already kickstarted the effort, and now need your help to raise a,50 crores for @FeedingIndia in the next few days (hours?) to save hundreds of thousands of lives. If we raise more, we will get more oxygen. Domestic donors go here – http://zoma.to/oxygen,” he added.

Under its “feed the daily wager” campaign, initiated last year, Zomato distributed 78 million meals for poor who lost access to livelihood, it said.

The second wave of Covid has turned more deadly as more and more people this time are complaining of breathlessness and need oxygen support. However, the sudden spike in demand across cities has led to severe shortage.

Several major hospitals in Delhi have repeatedly come close to running out of oxygen and have sent SOS messages. Besides Delhi, hospitals across Maharashtra,Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh are also facing an oxygen shortage.

“I’m willing to fund hospitals in India that need funding to import bulk planeloads of oxygen or supplies into India to increase supply. Public hospitals/NGO’s also pls reach out,” Vinod Khosla, technology guru and entrepreneur, said in a tweet on Sunday.

A lot of people have also turned to social media to find oxygen or a hospital bed for their friends and family.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual meeting with the leading oxygen manufacturers to address the acute shortage of medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders across the country.

India on Sunday reported a record daily rise of 349,691 new coronavirus infections, taking its overall tally to 1,69,60,172.

A total of 2,767 people were reported dead on Sunday, according to health ministry data, taking total coronavirus fatalities to 192,311.

Also Read-Zomato Offers Zero Commission Takeaway for Restaurants

Read More-Paytm to disburse Rs 1,000 Cr to MSMEs