After $150 million loan to Blinkit, Zomato now launches 10-minute food delivery offering

BENGALURU:  Online food delivery platform Zomato, which recently extended a $150 million loan to quick commerce platform Blinkit, on Monday announced the launch of Zomato Instant- 10-minute food delivery.

“Innovating and leading from the front is the only way to survive (and therefore thrive) in the tech industry. And here we are with Zomato Instant,” said Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and CEO of Zomato.
Customers are increasingly demanding quicker answers to their needs.

They don’t want to plan, and they don’t want to wait, he said, adding that after becoming a frequent customer of Blinkit, he started feeling that the 30-minute average delivery time by Zomato is too slow, and will soon have to become obsolete.

Zomato Instant will be started off with four stations in Gurugram from next month. Each of the finishing stations will house 20-30 dishes from various restaurants based on demand predictability and hyperlocal preferences.

Last week, Zomato extended a $150 million loan to Blinkit, which is in a severe cash crunch. Zomato has been investing aggressively in many start-ups.

Zomato also recently announced that it is acquiring a 16.66% stake in Mukunda Foods for $5 million.

Mukunda is a food robotics company that designs and manufactures smart robotic equipment to automate food preparation for restaurants.

It has also invested in ad-tech firm Adonmo, a new age start-up pioneering a technology fuelled transformation in outdoor advertising, and B2B software platform UrbanPiper.

These investments are part of the company’s strategy to invest in start-ups.

In 2021, Zomato said it plans to invest $1 billion in start-ups over the next two years and earlier it had invested in Curefit and Shiprocket.