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Gurgaon-based online restaurant guide, Zomato, has made strategic investments in two hyperlocal delivery startups.
Zomato bought minority stakes in Gurgaon-based Pickingo and Mumbai-based Grab to strengthen its food ordering and delivery business.
The move will help Zomato to bring restaurants on Zomato Order that typically do not deliver food online. To start with, the service will be available in five cities viz NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, expanding further to other cities in a few months.
Zomato has also partnered with logistics startup, Delhivery, to help last-mile delivery of food from restaurants.
Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO of Zomato, said,
We have unequivocally the largest restaurant base in India and and we will work closely with Pickingo, Grab and Delhivery to improve the last-mile delivery experience for users placing orders online on Zomato. So far restaurants have been delivering on their own, but with this partnership, we will also be able to target restaurants across the country that don’t otherwise deliver. We are also launching our online ordering service in Dubai, Australia and South Africa later this month. Along similar lines, we are also in conversation with hyperlocal logistics firms in other countries to ensure that we are able to provide a seamless and quality experience to our users there.
On demand B2B hyperlocal logistics startup, Pickingo, raised $1.3 Mn last month from VC firm, Orios and angel investor, Zishaan Hayath. The startup manages delivery across six cities in India.
According to Rahul Gill, co-founder and CEO of Pickingo, the investment will not only infuse funds into the company but also allow Pickingo to scale rapidly with Zomato’s online ordering business, while leveraging Zomato’s strong relationship with restaurants across the country.
On the other side, Grab raised $1 Mn from Oliphans Capital and independent investor Haresh Chawla. The startup connects neighborhood stores, restaurants & online platforms to deliver their products to the end consumers in minutes.
Zomato is making strides to move from being a search and discovery portal to a platform offering technology that helps merchants connect more effectively with customers with the launch of online ordering, cashless payments, soon to be launched table reservations and a point of sale system.
Over the past one year Zomato has acquired nine companies to extend its global reach in the restaurant search space. This includes the acquisition of Urbanspoon, Mekanist, Cibando, MenuMania, Lunchtime, Obedovat and Gastronauci across geographies.
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