Zomato Acquires 16.66% Stake In Mukunda Foods For $5 Million; Grants $150 Million Loan To Blinkit

Indian food-delivery firm Zomato Ltd's board has approved the acquisition of a 16.66% stake in Mukunda Foods, a food robotics company, for $5 million and granted a loan of $150 million to Blinkit, an online shopping platform.

From cooking-making to burger-flipping, many foods and beverage businesses are beginning to discover the benefits of robots to improve their productivity. 

Mukunda is a food robotics company that helps automate food preparation at restaurants by designing and manufacturing intelligent robotic equipment.

Zomato said, "our investment will help Mukunda Foods scale faster, help reduce restaurant food prices, expand margins, and enhance customer delight."

Zomato, in a disclosure filing with the National Stock Exchange in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India regulations, said the company's board of directors at a meeting on March 15, 2022, has approved the acquisition of a 16.66 per cent stake in Mukunda Foods for an aggregate cash purchase of $5 million and grant a loan of $150 million to Blinkit, with the terms of the loan to be decided at a future date.

Formerly known as Grofers, Blinkit rebranded itself late last year as its CEO promised to speed up deliveries of everything from groceries to electronics in a burgeoning market dominated by Walmart's Flipkart and Amazon's local unit.