INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Zomato's IPO was more than 38 times oversubscribed last weekShares of food delivery firm Zomato Ltd nearly doubled on Friday in a stellar
first listing of a local unicorn in India, setting the pace for a slew of such debuts by internet-based startups that are thriving during
the COVID-19 pandemic.Berkshire Hathaway Inc-backed Paytm, hospitality company Oyo Hotels and ride-hailing firm Ola, both backed by
SoftBank, are among the Indian startups set to enter markets, riding on support from foreign funds and local investors.Shares of Zomato
without the incredible efforts of India's entire internet ecosystem," Zomato's founder and Chief Executive Deepinder Goyal said.Goyal,
38, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, launched Zomato in 2008 with fellow graduate Pankaj Chaddah
As of March 31, it operated in about 525 cities in India and has partnered with close to 390,000 restaurants.It is the first startup to go
public in India's food delivery market, which research firm RedSeer estimated is worth $4.2 billion
It offers home delivery of food, allows customers to book tables for dining-in and collates restaurant reviews, making it a competitor to
SoftBank-backed Swiggy and Amazon.com's food delivery service.The company's offering last week drew bids worth $46.3 billion, making it
more than 38 times oversubscribed, with big institutional investors placing major bets."Growth is key here
Zomato might not be profitable but it is growing exponentially and is enviably positioned to keep that momentum," said Danni Hewson, a
financial analyst with AJ Bell, an investment platform in England.Zomato's loss for the year ended March 31 narrowed to Rs 8.13 billion,
while revenue from operations fell slightly year-on-year to Rs 19.94 billion"We are...not going to alter our course for short term profits
at the cost of long term success of the company," Goyal said.
