Foodpanda Refutes Reports That The Company Is Looking For Buyers

Foodpanda has been in the news recently for its struggle to find buyers to run its operations in India. Although the company’s valuation is as low as $10-15 million, there are reports that the company’s search for buyers has turned futile. Even with many rumours swirling around the company, Foodpanda remains confident that it’s operations in India is built to succeed and has plans to remain at top of the online food ordering market. 

“No Plans To Exit the Indian Market”

In a statement to HungryForever, Saurabh Kochhar, CEO of Foodpanda, said that the company has no plans to exit the Indian market and remains confident of its standing among the numerous food-tech startups in the country. “We are extremely happy with the development of our business in India. We are a global player in food ordering business, backed by a group of renowned investors. Whenever we have felt the need for investments we have invested and we will continue to do so, ” said Kochhar. 

Foodpanda, as recently as few months back, was in the news for increasing its automation processes, which led to layoffs of employees and reduction in the functional manpower. Due to the significant technological improvements made by the company, the need for extensive manual workforce was reduced. Elaborating on the company’s technological processes, Kochhar said, “We have achieved an outstanding rate of automation in India and have built incredible technological innovations that have dramatically improved our order processing, vendor management and delivery rider allocation.”

Funding Has Dried Up

The online food-delivery platforms have taken a hit recently with funding drying up due to lack of revenue from the current model. Investors in food-tech start-ups are cautious about the revenue model employed by many players in the over-saturated market. Although many start-ups have shut shop or drastically reduced its workforce, Foodpanda is confident that the company’s profitability will increase. “Marketplace business generally require many years to turn profitable, we are happy to see this happening even faster at Foodpanda. Online food ordering is one of the most profitable internet business models and we are proving so in India as well, ” added Kochhar.