Zomato to Raise $150 Million From Alibaba's Ant Financial

India's Zomato is raising $150 million from investor Ant Financial, an Alibaba affiliate, at a valuation of $3 billion for the food delivery startup.

Zomato's top shareholder Info Edge (India) said in a filing on Friday that after the funding its stake will drop to about 25.13 percent. It had a 26.38 percent stake as of March last year.

The fund infusion comes as Zomato pushes for a bigger market share in the highly competitive Indian food delivery space in a race with rivals such as Tencent-backed Swiggy and Uber's Uber Eats.

The capital is part of a larger $500 million fundraising that is likely to close in the next two months, the Economic Times newspaper reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

Zomato did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The Gurugram-based restaurant aggregator recorded a loss of $294 million in the year to March compared with a loss of $12 million a year earlier as it burnt more cash in its Indian delivery business to grab new customers, unaudited figures from its annual report showed.

© Thomson Reuters 2019