'Incorrect news,' says Zomato CEO about report on firm looking to acquire Shiprocket for $2 bn
'We remain focused on our existing businesses with no plans for any acquisition at this moment,' says Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal
- Dec 21, 2023,
- Updated Dec 21, 2023 10:45 PM IST
Food delivery platform Zomato Ltd's CEO Deepinder Goyal on Thursday clarified that the company is not looking to acquire logistics aggregator Shiprocket and would like to caution investors about the same.
Earlier on Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Gurugram-based Zomato has offered to acquire e-commerce shipping startup Shiprocket for about $2 billion. Zomato has proposed to acquire the company, which is also backed by Info Edge, Temasek and Lightrock, for about $2 billion, though nothing has been finalised yet, the report said. Zomato, which also owns quick commerce platform Blinkit, is already an investor in Shiprocket.
"We have noticed that there are certain news articles circulating in the mainstream media with the subject “Zomato offers to acquire Shiprocket for $2 billion”. We deny this statement and would like to caution investors against such incorrect news floating in the market. We remain focused on our existing businesses with no plans for any acquisition at this moment. Kindly note that the Company is clarifying this information out of abundant caution, given the large size of the deal mentioned in the news article and the uncertainty that it may create in the market," said Goyal on X platform.
In November, Shiprocket said it saw a 78 per cent increase in its operating revenue in the financial year ending on March 31, 2023. The logistics startup said its operating revenue in FY23 was about Rs 1,089 crore, a 1.7X more than Rs 611 crore it had reported in FY22.
The startup saw its net loss widen by 3.6X on the back of its multiple acquisitions. The logistics unicorn reported a net loss of Rs 341 crore in FY23, a 266% surge from Rs 93.1 crore it had reported in the previous fiscal year.
Earlier this month, Shiprocket said it plans to disburse around Rs 100 crore to the small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the country through its financing platform to democratise access to collateral-free capital.
In its pilot phase, the company has enabled around 150 SMBs with access to vital growth capital and disbursed over Rs 35 crore via Shiprocket Capital with plans to disburse around Rs 100 crore by December 2024, the platform said in a statement.
The startup, founded in 2017 by Saahil Goel, Vishesh Khurana, Akshay Gulati, and Gautam Kapoor, is an aggregator of third-party logistics companies. It works with 17 courier partners, including Delhivery, FedEx, Aramex, Xpressbees, DTDC, and Shadowfax.
It has raised around $270 million in funding from Temasek, Bertelsmann, Moore Strategic Ventures, PayPal, and March Capital and others.
In its latest sector note, CLSA said Zomato Ltd is its top pick in the consumer space as it said that quick commerce can be viable across cities in India, beyond the metros and tier-1 cities. "With Blinkit achieving a positive contribution in Q2 FY24, we believe added scale as they expand their dark store network and city reach will drive positive adjusted Ebitda in FY25," the foreign brokerage said.
CLSA said Blinket's prices are, on an average, at 23 per cent discount to maximum retail price (MRP) against 19 per cent discount for Swiggy's Instamart and Zepto.
Blinkit, CLSA said, had the lowest per product pricing on average but was the only quick commerce player to charge a delivery fee in addition to a handling charge.
In November, Blinkit turned contribution positive for the first time in Q2 FY24, Zomato Q2 results showed. The contribution margin in the business, expressed as percentage of GOV, in the business improved from -7.3 per cent in Q2 FY23 to +1.3 per cent in Q2 FY24.
Zomato acquired Blinkit (formerly Grofers) and its warehousing and ancillary services business in August 2022. The deal was announced in June 2022 after the company board approved the Rs 4,447-crore transaction to acquire Blinkit. The ancillary business was bought for Rs 61 crore.
Food delivery platform Zomato Ltd's CEO Deepinder Goyal on Thursday clarified that the company is not looking to acquire logistics aggregator Shiprocket and would like to caution investors about the same.
Earlier on Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Gurugram-based Zomato has offered to acquire e-commerce shipping startup Shiprocket for about $2 billion. Zomato has proposed to acquire the company, which is also backed by Info Edge, Temasek and Lightrock, for about $2 billion, though nothing has been finalised yet, the report said. Zomato, which also owns quick commerce platform Blinkit, is already an investor in Shiprocket.
"We have noticed that there are certain news articles circulating in the mainstream media with the subject “Zomato offers to acquire Shiprocket for $2 billion”. We deny this statement and would like to caution investors against such incorrect news floating in the market. We remain focused on our existing businesses with no plans for any acquisition at this moment. Kindly note that the Company is clarifying this information out of abundant caution, given the large size of the deal mentioned in the news article and the uncertainty that it may create in the market," said Goyal on X platform.
In November, Shiprocket said it saw a 78 per cent increase in its operating revenue in the financial year ending on March 31, 2023. The logistics startup said its operating revenue in FY23 was about Rs 1,089 crore, a 1.7X more than Rs 611 crore it had reported in FY22.
The startup saw its net loss widen by 3.6X on the back of its multiple acquisitions. The logistics unicorn reported a net loss of Rs 341 crore in FY23, a 266% surge from Rs 93.1 crore it had reported in the previous fiscal year.
Earlier this month, Shiprocket said it plans to disburse around Rs 100 crore to the small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the country through its financing platform to democratise access to collateral-free capital.
In its pilot phase, the company has enabled around 150 SMBs with access to vital growth capital and disbursed over Rs 35 crore via Shiprocket Capital with plans to disburse around Rs 100 crore by December 2024, the platform said in a statement.
The startup, founded in 2017 by Saahil Goel, Vishesh Khurana, Akshay Gulati, and Gautam Kapoor, is an aggregator of third-party logistics companies. It works with 17 courier partners, including Delhivery, FedEx, Aramex, Xpressbees, DTDC, and Shadowfax.
It has raised around $270 million in funding from Temasek, Bertelsmann, Moore Strategic Ventures, PayPal, and March Capital and others.
In its latest sector note, CLSA said Zomato Ltd is its top pick in the consumer space as it said that quick commerce can be viable across cities in India, beyond the metros and tier-1 cities. "With Blinkit achieving a positive contribution in Q2 FY24, we believe added scale as they expand their dark store network and city reach will drive positive adjusted Ebitda in FY25," the foreign brokerage said.
CLSA said Blinket's prices are, on an average, at 23 per cent discount to maximum retail price (MRP) against 19 per cent discount for Swiggy's Instamart and Zepto.
Blinkit, CLSA said, had the lowest per product pricing on average but was the only quick commerce player to charge a delivery fee in addition to a handling charge.
In November, Blinkit turned contribution positive for the first time in Q2 FY24, Zomato Q2 results showed. The contribution margin in the business, expressed as percentage of GOV, in the business improved from -7.3 per cent in Q2 FY23 to +1.3 per cent in Q2 FY24.
Zomato acquired Blinkit (formerly Grofers) and its warehousing and ancillary services business in August 2022. The deal was announced in June 2022 after the company board approved the Rs 4,447-crore transaction to acquire Blinkit. The ancillary business was bought for Rs 61 crore.