Zomato Buys Stakes In CureFit, Shiprocket, Magicpin; Plans $1-Billion Investments In Two Years

Zomato plans to invest $1 billion (about Rs 7,400 crore) over the next two years, with a large chunk of it to be earmarked for quick-commerce.

“Within all the businesses that we're looking at today, quick-commerce (delivery of products in less than 30 minutes) is clearly emerging as one of the most promising ones,” the online food ordering and delivery platform said while announcing its second quarter earnings.

The firm said it's seeing widespread adoption in the 10-minute delivery format in the online grocery segment, and will invest more in this segment in the near term.

Investment plans come even as the company's losses widened for the second straight quarter as it beefed up investments in its food delivery business

The firm made several investments to scale up its business in the quarter gone by. While it's in the process of divesting its stake in the sports discovery platform Fitso to CureFit for $50 million (Rs 371 crore), it's investing another $50 million in cash with CureFit for a 6.4% stake.

“This will help us potentially explore cross-selling benefits between Zomato and CureFit, as we see food and health becoming the same side of the coin in the long term,” the company said.

It's also acquiring 8% stake in business-to-business logistics tech firm Shiprocket for about $75 million (Rs 557 crore). The platform provides shipping and fulfillment services to over 60,000 brands and merchants across categories like apparel, electronics, beauty and personal care and grocery.

Zomato is buying 16% stake in Magicpin for $50 million (Rs 371 crore). Magicpin drives omni-channel growth for local retailers and has a network of 170,000+ paying merchants in categories, including fashion, food, electronics, grocery, pharma and entertainment across 50 cities in India.

Zomato said it has already committed $275 million (Rs 2,042 crore) across four companies over the past six months.