Hours before Zomato's shares are to be listed on Indian bourses, its CEO, Deepinder Goyal said that he has never been so "excited and indifferent at the same time". In a tweet, he said he was proud of the past, thankful for the present and ready for the future. The shares of the food-tech startup start trading on tech stock exchanges on Friday, after a massive response to its IPO that was oversubscribed by 38 times.
Just ahead of this moment of great significance for his food delivery firm, Mr Goyal recalled in a letter the decade-long journey, which, he said, "has not always been smooth".
“We have lived through many ups and downs - something not every company has the privilege of living long enough to do,” he said in a blog post. However, he added that Zomato has found itself managing crises by “impatiently staying focused on the long term” and "committing ourselves to doing the best it can do today".
Elaborating the challenges, he said that Zomato devoted half of its tech or engineering team on long-term initiatives "even in our hardest times". During better times, it doubled down on those plans. “The only short term work we do is whatever will earn us the right to continue building the future,” he said, adding everyone at Zomato understands that anything meaningful takes decades to build.
"Today is a big day for us. A new Day Zero," the CEO said.
Zomato's much-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) had received a huge response and was oversubscribed by 38.25 times. The offer comprised a fresh issue of Rs 9,000 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 375 crore by the promoter, Info Edge India. Incorporated in 2008, the restaurant aggregator and food delivery company is among the most prominent startups in the country. It also has a presence in 24 countries.
Mr Goyal concluded his letter by hoping that the fact that Zomato made it so far inspires millions of Indians to dream bigger and build something way more incredible.
