BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian food-delivery firm Zomato Ltd has reached an all-stock merger with Blinkit that values the instant-delivery service between $700 million and $750 million, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Zomato and Blinkit did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
But the food-delivery firm said in a statement that it would loan as much as $150 million to Blinkit, formerly known as Grofers, for the start-up’s near-term capital needs.
Zomato in August acquired a more than 9% stake in SoftBank-backed Blinkit for nearly $68 million and said earlier this year it would invest as much as $400 million in the Indian quick commerce market over the next two years.
Blinkit rebranded itself late last year as its CEO promised to speed up deliveries of everything from groceries to electronics in a burgeoning market dominated by Walmart’s Flipkart and Amazon’s local unit.
The instant-delivery startup, which operates in more than 20 locations across India, offers the convenience of delivery in 10 minutes, far lower than the hours or days most competitors take.
Zomato also said on Tuesday that it would buy a 16.7% stake in food-robotics company Mukunda Foods Private Ltd for $5 million in cash.
($1 = 76.4380 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Shivani Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)
