Ride-hailing giant Ola acquired food ordering startup Foodpanda India in an all-stock deal to reenter the food delivery business in India as it looks to counter Uber Eats in a fledgling market.
ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., the operator of Ola, is partnering with Foodpanda's Germany-based parent Delivery Hero Group and will take over its India business, the cab aggregator said in a statement.
Ola will invest $200 million (around Rs 1,330 crore) in Foodpanda India to scale operations., “Our commitment to invest in Foodpanda India will help the business be focused on growth by creating value for customers and partners,” Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and chief executive officer at Ola, said.
This is Ola's second foray into food delivery. It had entered the business through Ola Cafe but shut it down. The Foodpanda India buyout comes nearly seven months after San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc rolled out Uber Eats in India.
Saurabh Kochhar, CEO at Foodpanda India, has decided to move on to pursue other opportunities, Ola said in the statement. Pranay Jivrajka, founding partner at Ola, has been named interim CEO.
Niklas Östberg, co-founder of Delivery Hero AG, said the partnership with Ola will allow the company to consolidate the market. “It strategically makes sense to collaborate with leading local players.”
Foodpanda, which at present serves over 15,000 restaurants across more than 100 cities in India, was able to narrow down its losses in the year ended March—to Rs 44.81 crore from Rs 142.64 crore a year ago, the company statement said. Revenue rose to Rs 62.16 crore from Rs 37.81 crore in the previous year.
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