Zomato Raises $60M As Sequoia Ups Stake Via Investment Led By Info Edge, Vy Capital

Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd., an online restaurant discovery and review service, has raised $60 million in a fresh round of funding that saw existing investor Sequoia Capital raise its stake in the New Delhi-based startup.

The latest round, led by another existing investor, Info Edge India Ltd., along with Vy Capital, takes the total funding for the company to $113 million and values Zomato at about $660 million, the startup said in a statement on Wednesday. Zomato expects to use the money for product development and increase the number of cities where its service is available. Zomato’s desktop and mobile-based app allows people to discover restaurants, rate the food and service, and build their own network of foodies, the company said.

Zomato, which was founded in 2008, said revenues for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2015, are expected to triple from $5.1 million in sales for the previous year. The company didn’t give details, but is estimated to have incurred losses of nearly 413 million rupees ($6.7 million), according to Next Big What, a blog that tracks startups in India. This performance is typical of startups in the investment phase, the blog added.

Currently, about 30 million people visit Zomato every month, browsing through 300,000 restaurant listings across 18 countries from Brazil to Britain. Founder Deepinder Goyal, who wants Zomato to become “the world's local expert in dining out” said, in the statement, that the company had added eight countries in the last year.

The Indian startup has acquired four companies since June, including MenuMania in New Zealand, Lunchtime in the Czech Republic, Obedovat in Slovakia, and Gastronauci in Poland, and over the next year, plans to expand to 14 more countries across Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and the Americas.

India’s Internet-based startups are riding a mobile revolution in the country, one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets and the Asia Pacific region’s fastest-growing online ad market.

“More than half of Zomato’s traffic is seen on its mobile apps, testimony to the fact that local search is moving to mobile very fast,” Zomato said in its statement. The company has also started Zomato for Business, an app built to help restaurant owners garner more customers.

“Zomato is one of the first Internet companies out of India with a consumer product that is scaling on a global basis,” said Alexander Tamas, founding partner of Vy Capital, in the statement.

Zomato has earlier raised $53 million from Info Edge and Sequoia Capital over multiple rounds of funding, Zomato said in its statement.