Agrawal’s interest in both the new-age businesses comes at a time when quick commerce is at an all-time high in terms of fundraising, an ET report said, adding that the family office of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has also picked up a small stake in Swiggy by purchasing shares held by the food-delivery and quick-commerce firm’s employees and early investors.
The amount invested by them is not yet known but the report said Swiggy was valued at $10-11 billion. Agrawal picked up a stake in quick-commerce firm Zepto, which competes with Zomato’s Blinkit and Swiggy’s Instamart, through its $665 million funding round a little over a month ago, the report said, quoting people aware of the matter.
While the amount of deals is not yet known, the figures are said to be sizable for individual investors.
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In the recent past, Agrawal has been making bullish comments on new-age businesses with long runways of growth.
“Quick commerce companies like Zomato are growing at 70-80%. If they are able to grow at this rate for five years, it will be difficult to even fathom what’s in store. The issue is many of them are still not making profits or at the early stages of profitability. Clearly, the potential for some is clearly high,” the billionaire investor had told ET in an interview recently.
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His firm Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund has pared stakes significantly in Zomato following a sharp rally on stock exchanges.
“We accumulated it at sub-Rs 100 levels. A significant trimming has happened as prices have moved to Rs 200 plus,” Agrawal had told a TV channel a few days ago, adding that the outlook for the industry remains extremely buoyant.
Brokerage Motilal Oswal Financial had recently reiterated a “buy call” on Zomato with a target price of Rs 300. It had also noted that Blinkit notoriously defies any attempts to value the stock fairly, due to its feisty growth and the disruptive and evolving nature of quick commerce.
“Its gross order value (GOV) surged 100%+ YoY, and we believe Blinkit GOV is the most important factor driving variation for a DCF-based price target,” the brokerage said, adding that there may be upside risk to these GOV estimates, potentially unlocking more value.
“Zomato’s food delivery business is stable, and Blinkit offers a generational opportunity to participate in the disruption of industries such as retail, grocery and e-commerce,” Motilal report had said.
Buoyed by its sharp growth profile, Zomato shares have more than doubled so far in the year with target prices going up to Rs 350.