‘One day’ to ‘day one’: How Zomato reacted to its big listing debut

Zomato, an online food delivery startup, soared on its market debut on Friday, following a 93.75 billion rupee ($1.3 billion) IPO, the country’s biggest this year.

Soon after its shares opened at Rs 115 in pre-open trade compared to the initial public offering (IPO) price of Rs 76, the elated bunch tweeted, “From one day to Day One”.

The stock then rocketed up 80 percent in the opening 10 minutes, taking Zomato’s market capitalisation close to the one trillion rupee mark, according to the AFP report.

Why is Zomato’s listing a significant step for startups

Zomato’s listing, which was advanced by four days, is the first market listing of an Indian startup valued at more than $1 billion. Zomato is offering 1.23 billion shares for sale at the higher end of its price band, with the size of the IPO coming up to Rs 93.75 billion. 

Zomato’s founder and CEO Deepinder Goel, tweeted just before the markets opened: “Never been so excited and indifferent at the same time.”

Sharing an image of a board, Goyal said, “Proud of the past, thankful for the present, ready for the future.”

The Zomato founder also wrote a letter to shareholders before the market listing at 10 am on Friday.

 It’s  “a new day zero” for the company, he said.

“Today is a big day for us. A new Day Zero. But we couldn’t have gotten here without the incredible efforts of India’s entire internet ecosystem,” he said in his letter titled “Letter from Deepi”.

Recalling the journey of the startup, Goyal said, “We have lived through many ups and downs – something not every company has the privilege of living long enough to do. I have made many decisions which have been good for the company, while some have caused our stakeholders a lot of heartburn. That said, we have found ourselves managing times of crisis on different occasions in much the same way – impatiently staying focused on the long term, executing relentlessly, and committing ourselves to doing the very best we can do today.”

Zomato, which operates in 525 Indian cities, is yet to turn profitable and reported a loss of 8.16 billion rupees in the financial year ending March 2021. “We are going to relentlessly focus on 10 years out and beyond, and are not going to alter our course for short-term profits at the cost of long-term success of the company,” Zomato’s chief executive Deepinder Goyal said Friday.

Zomato, launched in 2008, has partnered with close to 390,000 restaurants.