Zomato has reportedly established an NBFC (non-banking financial company) and has invested in UrbanPiper Technology, a B2B software platform, and Ad tech company AdOnMo Pvt Ltd.
This move is part of the online food delivery firm’s larger plan of deploying USD 1 billion across startups.
Sources have confirmed that the NBFC will enable Zomato to expand credit to its shareholders like restaurants, customers as well as delivery partners. The name of the NBFC is yet to be finalized.
In the meantime, Zomato has invested nearly USD 5 million in UrbanPiper as part of the bigger round of USD 24 million for a 19% stake and an investment of USD 15 million in AdOnMo to obtain a 5% stake.
It should be noted that Bace Fund LP, an early-stage investment company where the company CEO and Founder Deepinder Goyal has invested, had an investment in AdOnMo in December 2019. Currently, it owns 13% of the firm.
Zomato, in a stock exchange filing, clarified that the USD 100,000 investment of Goyal in Bace Fund LP is a small portion of the fund. Goyal was also Shiprocket’s angel investor where Zomato invested recently. The CEO later asserted that he exited the firm with no profits before the publicly listed Zomato could invest.
According to the food delivery firm, nearly 80% of restaurants still utilize manual methods to process order deliveries owing to order flow delays and order processing errors.
Founded in 2016, UrbanPiper offers a software platform that allows restaurants to collaborate with several players through one digital interface. It provides technology to restaurants to improve their capacity for food delivery. Currently, UrbanPiper claims to be processing nearly 12 million monthly orders a month at more than 23,000 restaurant outlets in the country.
Furthermore, AdOnMo was also launched in 2016 and the company takes targeted digital advertising to outdoor digital screens beyond personal devices. Their licensed technology allows cloud-connected digital screens with targeted and contextual advertising abilities.
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