In an earnings call on August 2, Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal said that Zomato is lowering its overall investment guidance in Blinkit to $320 million from $400 million as the e-commerce company cuts its losses, including its $150 million investment in the company so far.
However, Goyal did not disclose a timeline for BlinkIt to become profitable.
During the call, Goyal also clarified that the acquisition of BlinkIt was not concealed, and due process was followed during the transaction.
In its Q1 results, Zomato said that its food delivery segment had reached breakeven with zero adjusted EBITDA. The company posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of Rs 80 crore in the third quarter compared to a loss of Rs 30 crore in the same period last year.
Zomato reports 10% sequential growth in total order value. The company said its contribution to GMV increased to 2.8% of around Rs 11 per order, which resulted in an EBITDA adjusted breakeven of the food delivery business. However, the EBITDA margin for food remains negative at Rs 16 per order.
Zomato’s average order value has almost stagnated at Rs 397. However, Goyal added that their customer acquisition costs have stabilized, which has resulted in lower marketing spending.
Zomato closed at Rs 56 on the BSE on August 2, up 20% a day after the company reported its June quarter net loss narrowed 48% to Rs 186 crore. The stock was trading at Rs 54.35 per share as of 11:07 am on Wednesday, down 2.25%, while the benchmark Sensex was down 241.13 points, or 0.41%, at 57,895.23. On August 3, Zomato could see a big deal as Uber could sell its 7.8% stake in the food delivery aggregator.