Foodtech unicorn Zomato has forayed into the health and dietary supplements market. Making the announcement, Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal tweeted, “Functional foods… coming soon to your favourite food.” The supplements will be sold through a ‘Made in India’ brand, but the launch date of the products has not been revealed yet.
Functional foods.. coming soon to your favourite food app. @zomato pic.twitter.com/1EgmSHRTUE
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 16, 2021
These functional foods or dietary supplements are referred to as nutraceuticals and are obtained from herbal products, vitamins, minerals. They are consumed for their physiological benefits or to enhance immunity against diseases. Assuring the ‘highest possible levels of quality checks’, Deepinder said that the products will be delivered within 15 minutes making use of the 1.5 lakh delivery partners in Zomato’s fleet.
As per a report by Invest India, the nutraceuticals market in India is likely to grow from $4 billion in 2017 to $18 billion in 2025 due to increasing demand for dietary supplements.
Zomato’s entry into the nutraceuticals market comes at a time when the country is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and there is increased focus on preventive healthcare. The company will face stiff competition in the health foods segment, which has several national and international brands such as Onelife, GNC’s Guardian Healthcare, HealthKart, Mosaic Wellness, TrueBasics, and Himalaya, among others.
Earlier in February, Zomato had raised $250 million in funding from Tiger Global, Kora, Fidelity and others, taking its total valuation to $5.4 billion. The company is also expected to go for an initial public offering this year.
InfoEdge, which is one of the early investors in Zomato, disclosed in a regulatory filing that its stake post the fundraise stands at 18.4% on a fully converted and diluted basis.
In December 2020, Zomato had raised $660 million, giving the company a valuation of $3.9 billion. This made it the most-valued foodtech company in the Indian startup ecosystem, leaving behind rival Swiggy which was then valued at $3.6 billion.
Zomato’s revenue for FY2019-20 surged over two-fold to $394 million (around Rs 2,960 crore) from the previous fiscal.