Zomato to open food-supplies warehouses for B2B biz in 9 more cities

Food delivery firm Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd said it will open warehouses in nine more cities across India by the end of this year, including Delhi, and then set up units abroad, under its supplies brand for restaurants HyperPure.

Zomato, which already has a 6000-square-foot HyperPure warehouse in Bengaluru, said it has opened a 30,000-square-foot unit in the South Indian city, which will serve more than 2,500 restaurants.

HyperPure sells items to restaurants such as vegetables, fruit, poultry, groceries, spices, dairy products and beverages.

Zomato said in a statement it will launch a larger warehouse in Delhi.

HyperPure was started last year as a pilot in Bengaluru, with the launch of the 6000-square-foot warehouse talked above. In a not-so-publicised deal, Zomato had earlier acquired WOTU, a business-to-business e-commerce portal for food and beverages, and rebranded it as HyperPure. WOTU founder Dhruv Sawhney heads HyperPure.

In January 2018, the then-unacquired WOTU had raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round of funding from Claris Capital and Mumbai Angels Network.

“We have grown rapidly -- from supplying 350 restaurants in Bengaluru in November 2018 to nearly 1,000 merchants today,” Sawhney said.

Zomato’s HyperPure competes with the likes of NinjaCart, a business-to-business agri-marketing marketplace that allows farmers to sell vegetables and fruit directly to business establishments such as shops, retailers and restaurants.

Zomato rival Swiggy, on the other hand, is looking to expand its business by leveraging its existing logistics capabilities. A recent The Economic Times report said that Swiggy is looking to foray into hyperlocal delivery in categories such as medicines and grocery.

Yesterday, TechCircle reported that Zomato is raising around $62.2 million (Rs 441 crore) in a fresh funding round from a clutch of investors that include Berlin-based Delivery Hero.