Exited my investment in Shiprocket before Zomato invested in it: Deepinder Goyal

In a tweet, Goyal clarified about this arrangement after Mohandas Pai, the former chief financial officer and board member of Infosys questioned about the conflict of interest if a listed company invested in a start up where the founder had a stake as an angel.

Deepinder Goyal has exited Shiprocket as an angel investor with zero profit before his company Zomato which is now a publicly listed firm could invest, he said on micro blogging site Twitter on November 10.

In a tweet, Goyal clarified about this arrangement after Mohandas Pai, the former chief financial officer and board member of Infosys questioned about the conflict of interest if a listed company invested in a start up where the founder had a stake as an angel.

Goyal had invested $100,000 in Shiprocket earlier this year.

"This personal investment was one of the key reasons we got closer to Shiprocket and its founders. That's how we discovered that there's a potential long term strategic fit between the two companies," Goyal said via a note on the micro blogging site.

However, he also said that going forward, Zomato will continue to invest in companies where Goyal had invested in his personal capacity.

"Also such things (personal investments followed by Zomato stepping in) might continue to happen by design, while we continue to ensure the highest levels of disclosures and corporate governance at Zomato," he said.

Logistics aggregator Shiprocket has finalised a deal to raise $185 million in a Series E round which will be co-led by Zomato and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek.

The company will use the funding to expand the stack for merchants, focus on faster deliveries through warehousing network, acquisitions besides inorganic expansions, Saahil Goel - Co-Founder and CEO of Shiprocket - told Moneycontrol in an interaction.

Last month Zomato announced it had plans to deploy $1 billion over the next 1-2 years across startups, with a major focus on the quick commerce space.

The company recently raised over $1.25 billion by listing on the public markets, comprising a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 9,000 crore and an offer for sale worth Rs 375 crore by existing investor Info Edge.

Moneycontrol had first reported that Zomato was in talks to invest $75 million in Shiprocket. Earlier on November 10.