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The country’s biggest quick commerce platform, Blinkit, has received a new capital infusion of ₹1,500 crore from its parent Zomato, as per regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). This is another big investment by Zomato, which had infused ₹500 crore in Blinkit earlier this month.
With this recent infusion of funds, Zomato has pumped ₹4,300 crore into Blinkit so far since it took over the online grocery delivery company—previously Grofers—in an all-stock transaction in August 2022 for ₹4,477 crore.
As per reports close to the development, the main reason why Zomato has been investing more in Blinkit is to finance its fast growth and compensate for operational losses in the highly competitive quick commerce segment.
“Blinkit’s revenues are adequate to fund its operational requirements, but the burn rate is still high because of aggressive growth and increasing marketing expenses. This requires new cash injections to fuel growth,” someone familiar with the situation said.
Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa shared the same view recently in an interview, saying that the majority of the company’s costs are incurred due to expansion activities. “These costs of expansion are unavoidable, whether borne through marketing or idle costs. According to our growth patterns, we might have been able to cover our expansion costs, but increased marketing spending has slowed the process,” Dhindsa added.
Quick Commerce Competitors Step Up Investments
Blinkit’s closest rivals Swiggy Instamart and Zepto have also been raising funds aggressively to expand their businesses. Swiggy raised ₹4,500 crore with its IPO in November 2024, whereas Zepto has raised more than $1.3 billion in several rounds of funding in the last year.
On February 21, Swiggy’s board cleared a ₹1,000 crore investment into its supply chain unit Scootsy Logistics, which runs dark stores for Instamart. Swiggy’s IPO prospectus announced the intention to invest another ₹1,300 crore in Scootsy to increase its dark store network even further.
Blinkit’s Expansion Strategy: Dark Stores and Higher-Value SKUs
To reinforce its market position, Blinkit is pursuing a aggressive growth path based on its dark store infrastructure. The firm had 1,007 dark stores as of December 2024, already exceeding its growth target of 1,000 three months ahead of time. Blinkit has now updated its growth target with a view to having 2,000 dark stores by December 2025 rather than December 2026.
Additionally, Blinkit has expanded its product offerings to include high-value SKUs such as televisions, laptops, and printers, in an effort to boost the average order value.
Quick Commerce Clash
The fast commerce business has turned into a high-cash-burn sector, with firms investing billions in growth and customer acquisition. Industry estimates place the combined monthly cash burn of quick commerce players, including new entrants, at ₹1,300-1,500 crore—over double in recent months.
Though closing in on operational breakeven in Q2 FY25, Blinkit’s losses increased in Q3 FY25 as operating losses expanded to ₹103 crore from ₹8 crore in the last quarter. Swiggy, in turn, reported a net loss of ₹799 crore, with Instamart reporting an adjusted EBITDA loss of ₹578 crore in Q3 versus ₹358 crore in Q2.
Zomato’s Strong Financial Backing
Zomato’s capacity to keep investing in Blinkit is a result of its own financial health. In November 2024, Zomato raised ₹8,500 crore via a qualified institutional placement (QIP) to strengthen its balance sheet and fund its quick commerce business. Zomato had ₹19,235 crore in cash reserves as of December 31, 2024, with sufficient liquidity to fund Blinkit’s growth.
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