Food delivery: Zomato aims to become the Indian startup that has raised the most funding

India is not escaping the home delivery boom either. Startup Zomato expects to raise more than $ 1.3 billion with the IPO closing today. It would be an all-time record for a tech company in India, beating Tata Consultancy Services’ initial public offering, which hit $ 1.17 billion in 2004. Zomato’s plan is to sell the shares between Rs 72 and 76 ( about $ 1) each, and close reservations on weekends. Its founder Deepinder Goyal joked about us on twitter. “I just ordered a triple breakfast from Zomato. Stress hunger “. An interesting IPO in many respects, first of all because its performance will be able to provide the pulse of the market attitude towards Indian startups, a sort of test bed from which to obtain valuable insights. In fact, India is rich in unicorns (companies valued at least 1 billion dollars) but none of them had ever been listed on the stock exchange so far. Now, in the wake of Zomato, Flipkart ecommerce is also considering an IPO. Flipkart is currently valued at 38 billion, and has raised 3.5 billion in the latest round of investments that involved investors from all over the world including the US giant Walmart. The concern expressed by analysts is that of being faced with a bubble. Many Indian startups have recently raised rounds of investments more than millionaires on the private market, but the enthusiasm for a growing market has passed now they must begin to show sustainable and consistent returns and exits. One of the partners of the Indian venture capital company Blume Ventures, which specializes precisely in tech startups, commented: “This IPO is in a sense the first step to ensure that the promises of the Indian digital ecosystem are kept”, underlining the the importance of seeing results in the medium and long term so that Zomato can pave the way for the listing of other unicorns. Zomato was founded in New Delhi in 2008, and is known as the most successful Indian startup. It has over 5,000 employees and covers 10,000 cities in two dozen countries, including Slovakia, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Her purchase of Uber Eats India in January 2020, which helped her maintain control of the market, made a splash. As part of the deal, California-based Uber asked for a nearly 10% stake in Zomato. However, Zomato’s public offering is also a test of the resistance of the food delivery world, which, after constant growth in recent years, has experienced a real explosion on a global level due to the containment measures of the pandemic. Pitchbook data, venture capital-backed food companies have already raised more than $ 10 billion in 2021 compared to $ 7 billion in 2020. But what appears to be a smooth road may not deliver on its promises. The example to keep in mind is the sensational crash of Deliveroo, which in March was preparing for a triumphal debut on the London Stock Exchange (the largest IPO since 2011), and which instead closed almost 30% below on the first day. The worst performance in the history of the City.