Uber is close to selling the India-based arm of its UberEats food delivery service to Zomato, a local competitor in the crowded space, reports TechCrunch’s Manish Singh.
According to the outlet’s sources, Uber is in advanced stages of talks to close the deal; UberEats is said to be valued at roughly $400 million, and its parent company will invest between $150 million and $200 million for a stake in Zomato.
The move is likely a measure for Uber to cut losses, as it’s bled billions of dollars each quarter this year, and aims to become profitable by 2021. UberEats has been operational in India since May 2017, but has only ever managed to earn the #3 position in India’s competitive food delivery sector.
Zomato, for its part, has been around for 11 years now, and built its foundation on a comprehensive restaurant listing and reviews platform. It’s set to close a funding round of $600 million, at a valuation of $3 billion.
It isn’t clear exactly what the new year will look like for India’s food delivery space. We’ll have to wait and see whether UberEats is closed down, or if it’s operated differently under Zomato somehow. Meanwhile, there’s also Swiggy, which raised a billion-dollar round this time last year and is among India’s most valuable tech startups. It recently expanded into hyperlocal deliveries, which makes sense given its massive nationwide logistics infrastructure. The battle for food supremacy is on.
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