Food technology startup Zomato
Media Pvt. Ltd has acquired delivery start-up Runnr as part of a widely
expected, all stock deal that would help the former significantly shore up its
food delivery business, amid intense competition from rapidly growing rivals
such as Swiggy.
The deal also hands out a lifeline
to Runnr which has struggled to raise funds in the recent past. It has raised
about $20-25 million since it started out in 2015 from investors such as Nexus
Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Runnr was a product of a
merger between hyperlocal delivery start-up Roadrunnr and food-ordering
start-up TinyOwl.
Goyal said Runnr was already
fulfilling about 300,000 orders a month. He added that Runnr founder Mohit
Kumar will remain chief executive and will continue to work on the strategic
vision for the start-up with the rest of his team. He said the acquired firm
will continue to be run independently by Kumar.
Prior to its buyout of Runnr,
Zomato used to aggregate restaurants on its platform and works with third-party
delivery partners such as Runnr and Grab to execute deliveries. In September
2015, Zomato had picked up a minority stake in Grab (Grab a Grub Services Pvt.
Ltd) to bolster its food delivery business.
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