The leading travel-booking platform in China Ctrip is planning to invest in India’s online restaurant discovery and food-delivery platform Zomato as part of a financing round.
According to some of the statements, the investment could go up to $400 million (Rs 2,800 crore). The company is expected to pump around $100 million into Zomato. This investment will value the food discovery firm at $1.8-2 billion.
It is being stated that Ctrip will be joined by Zomato’s existing investor Ant Financial, an Alibaba affiliate, and a couple of investors. If the deal with Zomato is successfully implemented, it will be significant as the first such bet outside of travel services for Ctrip, which has a market capitalization of over $20 billion.
“The discussions with Ctrip are in the last leg, with only the final amount yet to be decided. It is likely to be around $100 million. While the investment is purely financial, the two companies may explore synergies, which will be more strategic in nature going forward,” a source stated.
In fiscal 2018, Zomato had a revenue of $74 million. In the previous fiscal, the revenue was $51 million with a reported loss of $54 million. This investment will surely help Zomato to strengthen its competition with Swiggy.