Zomato board likely to approve start-up Blinkit deal on June 24

BENGALURU:  Food delivery major Zomato is likely to acquire Blinkit, formerly Grofers. The Zomato board of directors will meet on Friday, June 24, and is likely to give its assent for the acquisition.

“A meeting of the board of directors of Zomato Limited is scheduled to be held on Friday, June 24, 2022, to discuss a potential acquisition transaction by the Company, the consideration for which may be discharged through the issuance of equity shares of the Company by way of a preferential issue,” Zomato said in a regulatory filing.

According to various reports, the deal is expected to value Blinkit at around $700 million, and SoftBank Vision Fund is the largest investor in Blinkit. Though Zomato has not mentioned that it will acquire Blinkit, it is said that the board will confirm the same on Friday.

Ever since the food tech giant invested in Blinkit, there have been reports on its acquisition. Recently, Zomato provided a short-term loan of up to $150 million to fund the quick commerce Blinkit’s capital needs.

Zomato had made seven investments in FY22, and it is bullish on the quick commerce sector. In December last year, Grofers was rebranded to Blinkit and started focussing on delivery in 10 minutes. Last month, at an earnings call, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said the online penetration in grocery is so small in the country. “I think there is so much room to grow in terms of penetration.

We want to be efficient with our capital and in the past, we have demonstrated that, by being more capital efficient while building our food delivery business as compared to anyone else in India,” he said. In the fourth quarter of last fiscal, Zomato reported a net loss of Rs 360 crore and said that it is not planning for any more minority equity investments.