Zomato starts home delivery of food from restaurants, partners with Pickingo, Grab and Delhivery.

Zomato has announced that it has made strategic investments in Gurgaon-based Pickingo, and Mumbai-based Grab, both hyperlocal delivery players, to enable last-mile delivery for restaurants including dine-in-only restaurants that don't otherwise deliver.

Zomato has also partnered with Delhivery, the popular logistics startup that provides supply chain solutions to online and offline retailers.

Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato, said, “We have unequivocally the largest restaurant base in India and we will work closely with Pickingo, Grab, and Delhivery to improve the last-mile delivery experience for users placing orders online on Zomato. So far, restaurants have been delivering on their own, but with this partnership, we will be able to target restaurants across the country that don’t otherwise deliver. We are also launching our online ordering service in Dubai, Australia and South Africa later this month. Along similar lines, we are in conversation with hyperlocal logistics firms in other countries to ensure that we are able to provide a seamless and quality experience to our users there.”

Pickingo, which manages delivery for local merchants across six cities in India, has so far raised $1.3 million.

Grab (formerly Grab a Grub) is a hyperlocal logistics service connecting neighborhood stores, restaurants & online platforms to deliver their products to the end consumers in minutes.

Rahul Gill, Co-Founder and CEO, Pickingo, said, "This investment will not only infuse funds into the company but will also allow us to scale rapidly with Zomato's online ordering business, while also leveraging Zomato's strong relationship with restaurants across the country. We have already started working together to deliver from select restaurants in New Delhi, and we look forward to taking this partnership further.”

Pratish Sanghvi, Co-Founder and Director, Grab, said “Last mile logistics are a challenge for most merchants across India, especially restaurants, and we view this investment as a great opportunity to solve this problem using technology along with Zomato. We have already rolled this out with Zomato in Mumbai, and will extend to other cities in the next couple of weeks. These are exciting times for food-tech in India.”

Sahil Barua, Founder & CEO, Delhivery, said “The food-tech space in India is heating up, and we’re excited about this partnership with Zomato. Delivery logistics for restaurants have always been a challenge, and we believe the technology-first approach will help simplify operations for them, as well as enrich customer experiences.”

Since July 2014, Zomato has acquired 9 companies to further extend its global reach in the restaurant search space. This includes the acquisition of Urbanspoon, which gave Zomato a dominant position in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Zomato is making strides to move from being a search and discovery portal to a platform offering technology that helps merchants connect more effectively with customers, with the launch of online ordering, cashless payments, soon to be launched table reservations and a point of sale system.