No buyers yet for Foodpanda despite low price tag

Berlin-based Rocket Internet, which is looking exit from its investment in food start-up Foodpanda, is in desperate search for a buyer. However, despite the buyout price being as low as $10-15 million (Rs 68.18–102.27 crore), it has yet to find any takers, according to a leading news agency.

Rocket Internet is looking to exit from the Indian start-ups that it had earlier invested in like Foodpanda, Fabfurnish and PrintVenue, according to recent media reports. 

Foodpanda is already in talks with competitors in India who had been pitched a sale value of $10-15 million (Rs 68.18–102.27 crore), according to the report. It further said that despite the low valuation they still have yet to find a buyer, which signals that it may decide to shut down its operations in India.

On the other hand, other food ordering start-ups such as Zomato and Swiggy have been approached for a buyout, said the report.

A year earlier Foodpanda had raised over $300 million from Rocket Internet and Goldman Sachs for its global business.

The company invested this money heavily in the Indian market and became one of the largest player in the online food ordering segment. It acquired TastyKhana and Just Eat in India last year in order to ward of competitor like Zomato, Swiggy and TinyOwl.

Foodpanda last year had laid off 300 employees. It also had reports of alleged fraud and systematic discrepancies in its operations during the previous year.

It is not only Foodpanda which hit a rough patch, competitors Zomato and TinyOwn together cut more than 500 employees and have been scaling down operations. They have stopped operations in many cities which they had launched in.

Foodpanda in March 2015 reported a loss of over Rs 36 crore according to Registrar of Companies (RoC) data.