During InfoEdge’s earnings call on June 23, which owns a 22.71% stake in Zomato, InfoEdge founder and vice chairperson Sanjeev Bikhchandani had said that the funding from Ant Financial was yet to come but they had investor interest from other investors who don’t need any permission to invest in an Indian company. But the Financial Times reported on Sunday (July 5) that Zomato’s $100 million funding from Ant Financial, a sister company of Alibaba, has been scuppered by the recent Indo-China tensions. “There has been substantive, there was immediate substantial hit because restaurants are closed, delivery boys don't travel out, some delivery boys have gone home to their hometowns,” Bikhchandani said during the earnings call, but as restrictions are easing up and restaurants are re-opening, “there has been a bit of bounce back”. It is still well below the levels last year or in February this year but “burn is substantially down” and people are “moving to a better unit economics model” with fewer discounts. He said that Zomato is making “positive money” after meeting all variable costs each quarter. He didn’t share exact numbers but said that the company will improve in the coming months. Bikhchandani also said that it has enough interest from both internal and external investors. “Globally delivery has really picked up post-COVID. In India there were logistical issues where Delhi boys were on our travels restaurants are still, many of them are still shut [sic]. But once those are over, delivery is expected to be…
