Zomato Injects INR 1,500 Cr In Blinkit

Amid the intensifying competition in the quick commerce sector, foodtech major Zomato has infused INR 1,500 Cr in its quick commerce arm Blinkit. 

According to Blinkit’s regulatory filing, the company’s board of directors approved the allotment of 7,612 equity shares to Zomato under a rights issue. Each share will have a face value of INR 10 and has been issued at a premium of INR 19,70,171 per share. The total value of this allotment stands at INR 1,499.7 Cr.

The latest fundraise comes a month after Zomato injected INR 500 Cr into the quick commerce arm.

The development was first reported by ET. 

With the latest funding, Zomato has injected a total of Rs 4,300 Cr in Blinkit since its acquisition. 

Blinkit posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of INR 103 Cr in Q3, up 13X from INR 8 Cr in the preceding quarter, due to upfront investments made during the period.  

Notably, Blinkit surpassed the 1,000-store mark during the quarter under review with an addition of 216 new dark stores. 

Leveraging this funding, Blinkit would be looking to double this to 2,000 stores by December 2025.

The Q3 was termed as one of the most competitive quarters by Blinkit as well as Swiggy’s Instamart. Because of the heightened competition, these quick commerce players saw a decline in their EBITDA margins. 

Higher customer acquisition cost and higher dark store counts has set Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart off the adjusted EBITDA margin breakeven course by at least 12 months, according to brokerage firm Bernstein. 

New players like Flipkart Minutes, Amazon, BigBasket, and JioMart have further increased the competition in the quick commerce segment, in which Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto are the main players.

Blinkit chief Albinder Dhindsa recently said that “the biggest impact of the intensifying competition has been the acceleration in customer awareness and adoption of quick commerce”. However, this led to a pause in margin expansion in the business during the quarter under review.