InfoEdge’s Rs 4.7 crore investment in Zomato is now worth Rs 15,000 crore

Info Edge, the earliest and biggest backer of , has seen the value of its stake in the company skyrocket to Rs 15,000 crore, or 1,050 times its initial investment of Rs 4.7 crore. On Friday, Zomato
became the first new-age unicorn to list on the Indian stock exchanges. The stock, which opened at Rs 115 a share, rose nearly 10% to end the day at Rs 126.

Info Edge, first invested in the company in 2010 and held around 18.5% in the Gurgaon-based startup before the listing. It sold around 2.32% of its stake or 4.93 crore shares as part of the offer for sale during the IPO but continues to hold around 15.23% in the company, a stake valued at Rs 15,000 crore as of July 23.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani,

founder took to microblogging site Twitter to talk about the returns the company made from its investment in Zomato. “Here is the ultimate evidence why India should invest more behind its startups and in early stage VC funds,” Bikhchandani wrote on Twitter above a graph showing InfoEdge’s returns at various price points.

China’s Ant Group which holds 16.5% in Zomato and is the second largest investor in the food-delivery firm will see its shareholding be valued at around Rs 16,268 crore on day 1 of listing. Ant has been diluting its shares in the Indian company since last year amid the geo-political conflict leading to new foreign direct investment rules, curbing Chinese capital flowing into domestic companies.

Zomato’s market capitalisation soared to nearly Rs 1 lakh crore settling at Rs 98,000 crore on listing day, up from the Rs 64,365 crore it commanded during its IPO.

Another potential winner is US ride-hailing firm, Uber, which sold its food-delivery business last year to Zomato. Being the third largest investor–
Uber holds around 9% stake after selling its India operations. Its shares are worth Rs 9,000 crore.

Others like Tiger Global, the New York investment firm, is likely to make a massive gain as its 11-month-old bet on Zomato is now worth Rs 5,000 crore. It made a Rs 1,885 crore investment in the company in 2020 and invested another Rs 162 crore before the IPO as part of the anchor placement. Similarly, another New York-based hedge fund, Kora which invested last year in Zomato, owns roughly 5% stake which is valued at Rs 4,900 crore.

Mohit Bhatnagar, managing director at Sequoia Capital India, who used to be part of the Zomato board, wrote in a
blog post, “The company’s 13-year journey from idea to IPO has been marked by several misses, many wins and a ton of learning along the way. Two things have remained consistent: the founding team’s laser-sharp focus on building the best possible product, and their insistence that food should remain at the core of their DNA. That clarity of vision, fueled by a mixture of passion, resilience and downright audacity, paved the way for Zomato’s IPO on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.”

In November 2013, Sequoia Capital India led Zomato’s $35 million Series A round, making it one of the fund’s largest investments at the time. Its Rs 300-crore investment is now worth Rs 7,448 crore. Sequoia, which held a 7.3% stake in the company, sold shares worth about $25 million before the IPO.