How Zomato’s IPO presentation deck delivered

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What a difference a day makes, even across geographies and time zones. In Singapore, it went from being able to eat out in groups of five to not being able to dine out at all. In the US, stocks rebounded after plummeting at the start of the week while in India, Zomato became the first unicorn startup to do an initial public offering.

In case you haven’t heard, the India-based food delivery giant got listed on the Indian stock exchange last week, and it was oversubscribed by almost 40 times. And just like that, Zomato went from being a private unicorn to being a public company. How’s that for all in a day’s work?

Today we look at,

• Some takeaways from Zomato’s IPO presentation and its filings
• An agritech startup that raised money
• Other newsy highlights such as YouTube’s acquisition of an Indian social commerce startup and Swiggy’s US$1.25 billion funding haul

PREMIUM SUMMARY

The first unicorn startup in India launched an IPO and it delivered

If a reality show called Another Startup Goes Public actually existed, then food delivery major Zomato is its latest star. Excited investors were undeterred by Zomato’s US$8.6 billion valuation, and its offering on the Indian stock exchange was oversubscribed by 38.25 times. So we took a look at its IPO presentation and filings and here’s what caught our eye.

• Revenue dropped: Zomato’s revenue fell by 15% for the financial year ending in March 2021. Most of the decline happened in the first half of FY2021 or in the early days of pandemic-induced lockdowns. At the time, people felt unsafe buying food from outside and opted to cook at home, the company said.
• Profitable? Not yet: In its filings with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Zomato said that it expects costs to increase over time and losses to continue. This is not uncommon: Other tech firms including Grab, GoTo, and Traveloka are going forward with their IPO plans without achieving profitability as well.
• Stock analysts are taken aback: Zomato’s losses are a concern for financial analysts, as the company’s adjusted negative EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) in FY 2021 is at -11.6%. While Grab has a much higher EBITDA margin of -47%, the super app has other businesses apart from food delivery, unlike Zomato.

Read more: 8 takeaways from Zomato’s investor deck for its $1.3b IPO

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

The agritech startup that’s growing like a magic beanstalk

Business-to-business agritech startup Vegrow has raised US$13 million in a series A round to expand to 100 cities in India, invest in technology, and launch new products.