Deal Street: Delivery Hero Makes A Comeback In India By Investing In Zomato

Five Indian startups raised nearly half a billion in angel, seed or venture capital funding across sectors such as food ordering, lending and agriculture, and others. Gurugram-based logistics startup Delhivery led the funding pack.

Aye Finance Raises $36 Million

Aye Finance raised around $36 million (about Rs 253 crore) through a mix of equity and debt funding, led by hedge fund Falcon Edge

Other investors such as CapitalG, a fund floated by Google’s parent Alphabet Inc., Zurich-based LGT Capital, and MAJ Invest, an asset management firm based out of Denmark, also participated in the fundraising, according to the non-banking financial company’s filings with the Registrar of Companies.

Besides, the company raised nearly $2.8 million (about Rs 20 crore) from Karvy Capital Ltd., the asset management unit of the Karvy Group.

Founded in 2014, the Gurugram-based firm provides working capital and business development loans to small businesses. It operates in 11 states and has 104 branches.

Delivery Hero Leads Zomato’s New Funding Round

Zomato raised $105 million (around Rs 733 crore ) in its latest fundraising tranche.

Naspers-backed Delivery Hero and U.S.-based Glade Brook Capital have made fresh investments in the online food delivery platform, Zomato’s investor InfoEdge said in an exchange filing. Delivery Hero will put in $50 million to become one of the top 10 shareholders in Zomato, according to its statement.

“I am delighted to welcome Delivery Hero as a partner and shareholder and look forward to learning from their global experience to help us strengthen our fast growing India food delivery business,” Deepinder Goyal, chief executive officer of Zomato, said in a statement.

This comes at a time Zomato is engaged in a bruising battle with rivals Swiggy and UberEats. Delivery Hero also bought Zomato’s U.A.E. business through its wholly owned subsidiary Talabat Middle East Internet Services Company LLC for about $172 million. The Berlin-based company had exited India in 2014 after selling its stake in TastyKhana to Foodpanda, now owned by Ola.

Zomato raised $210-million in October last year from Alipay, a Chinese e-commerce company and Alibaba Group’s payment affiliate. The fresh fundraise takes the overall investment in Zomato to $315 million.

Micro-Lender SMEcorner Raises Fresh Funds

SMEcorner raised $12.8 million (Rs 90 crore) in debt and equity funding.

The funding round was led by venture capital firm Quona Capital, which put in Rs 35 crore, according to a statement by the micro-lender for small and medium businesses. Existing investors, including Accion Venture Lab, invested the remaining amount, it said.

This takes the total funding raised by the startup to date to Rs 200 crore, the company said, adding it is now looking to mop up Rs 300 crore by the end of March next year.

Founded in 2013, the firm provides small-ticket loans to unorganised retail business owners such as kirana stores and ready-made garment sellers, among others. It uses artificial intelligence to evaluate the credit-worthiness of the businesses.

Others

Logistics startup Delhivery joined India’s unicorn club—firms valued at more than $1 billion—after it raised $395 million (around Rs 2,760 crore) in a fresh fundraise led by SoftBank’s Vision fund.

Mumbai-based Jai Kisan, a lending platform for farmers, raised $1.5 million (around Rs 10.6 crore) in a seed round of funding led by Blume Ventures.

Online charity platform Donatekart raised around $360,000 (Rs 2.55 crore) in seed funding from a clutch of investors led by early-stage investment firm LetsVenture.