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Zomato invests $60 mn in hyperlocal discovery startup Magicpin

By Joseph Rai

  • 10 Nov 2021
Zomato invests $60 mn in hyperlocal discovery startup Magicpin
Credit: VCCircle

Samast Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates hyperlocal discovery startup Magicpin, on Wednesday said it has raised $60 million (Rs 443 crore) as part of its Series D funding round led by the Mumbai-listed food delivery firm Zomato.

Existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated in the funding round, said Magicpin in a statement.

The startup will use the fresh capital to expand into new markets and categories.

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Magicpin was founded in 2015 by Anshoo Sharma, a former venture partner at Lightspeed, and Brij Bhushan, a former vice president at Nexus Venture Partners. The startup enables discovery of brands and retailers across fashion, food, electronics, grocery, pharma, nightlife and entertainment. Its app currently serves six million active users with nearly 25 sessions per user per month. The startup has also started home delivery from nearby stores, it said.

Magicpin cofounder and CEO Sharma said that the startup is driving omnichannel growth for local retail and helping them to leverage the fast-growing digital world.

"This round puts us in a position to own and transform the offline shopping experience across India," he added.

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Deepinder Goyal, founder, Zomato noted that what Zomato did with restaurants, Magicpin is doing for the entire offline shopping experience.

"We expect Magicpin to create a tremendous amount of value for its merchant partners as well as customers going forward," added Goyal.

Earlier in July, Zomato became the first tech unicorn to list on the Indian stock exchanges.

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This is not Zomato's first investment in a tech startup this year. It also invested $100 million in e-grocery unicorn Grofers and its wholesale unit Hands on Trades Pvt. Ltd., which also recently pivoted to the under 10-minute delivery model. The move came at a time when Zomato’s arch-rival Swiggy is ramping up its grocery and essentials service, Instamart in the Delhi NCR region as well as in key metros of Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

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