‘No conflict of interest’, Deepinder Goyal says, on Zomato’s investment in Shiprocket : Tech News

Mumbai: founder and chief executive Deepinder Goyal said he exited his personal investment in Shiprocket at zero profit before his company invested in the logistics startup as part of a larger funding round.

In responding to a question raised by former Infosys director TV Mohandas Pai, Goyal put out a statement on Twitter, saying: “There was no conflict of interest to begin with. This personal investment was one of the key reasons we got closer to Shiprocket (and its founders). That’s how we discovered that there was potential long-term strategic fit between the two companies.”

Pai had posed the “conflict of interest” question to Sanjeev Bikhchandani, cofounder of Info Edge and an early investor in Zomato.

“Shiprocket to raise $185 million in Series E round co-led by Zomato, Temasek. Is there a conflict of interest if a listed co-invests in a startup where the founder of the listed co had invested? @sbikh how will this be resolved!” Pai wrote in a tweet.

“Such things (personal investments followed by Zomato stepping in) might continue to happen by design, while we continue to ensure the highest levels of disclosure and corporate governance at Zomato,” Goyal said in the statement.

“Next time, please tag me directly on such queries and skip @sbikh.” he said in the tweet, which was retweeted by Bikhchandani.

Shiprocket, a logistics aggregator,
has raised $185 million (Rs 1,380 crore) in a Series E funding round co-led by Zomato, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Lightrock India, a senior company executive told ET on Thursday. The company did not share the expected valuation after the funding round, but people briefed on the matter said it would be $900-950 million.

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