Indian tech start-up goes for $1.2bn IPO

One of India’s biggest tech start-ups, has gone on sale with a $1.2bn initial public offering

Food delivery app Zomato raised $562.3m from institutional investors, already securing nearly 45% of the $1.3 billion it plans to raise through the IPO.

The 12-year-old startup revealed the news in a filing to local stock exchanges, with the official IPO to launch on Wednesday and close on Friday.

Among the investors are Tiger Global, and Government of Singapore, each backing the startup in the public markets.

Analysts are wary of the loss-making company’s high valuation

Zomato, backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, is the first of India’s major digital start-ups to issue an IPO.

Zomato’s three-day offering – with shares priced between 72 to 76 rupees per share – is expected to take the company’s valuation to $9 billion. Trading in the stock is likely to begin on 27 July.

As Zomato gears up for launch, it’s listing illustrates the confidence high-profile investors are placing in the world’s second-largest internet market’s first real consumer internet offering.

In a virtual press conference last week, Zomato executives confirmed that the startup plans to focus largely on India and will explore categories such as online grocery delivery in the future.

Amazon not seen as a competitor

The executives from Zomato dismissed Amazon as a serious competitor – at least for now.

“There’s no major impact on market share from Amazon so far,”

Amazon entered the food-delivery market back in 2020 and is only operational in Bangalore, India.