Following the news that India-based online food aggregator Zomato raised over INR40bn from anchor investors;

Ajay Kumar Thalluri, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“Now that Zomato has taken the IPO route to raise funds, the company is likely to hire more and script a new chapter in its business expansion plans to remain competitive in the Indian online food delivery market. The company had 3,469 employees as of 31 December 2020, but hires could go up to meet the new growth prospects and strengthen talent requirement to comply with regulatory procedures.

“Increasing spends on attracting and retaining employees becomes imperative as the company takes on global giants in the food delivery space. Amazon is already hiring for Amazon Food at its Bengaluru office in India. Currently, around 50% or 1,664 employees of Zomato are related to sales and sales enablement functions.

“A look at Zomato’s US counterpart DoorDash Inc., which went public in December 2020, shows that the company saw increased hiring activity after its debut in NYSE. According to GlobalData’s Job Analytics database, DoorDash Inc’s job postings saw a continued increase from 139 jobs in December 2020 and till March 2021 when it listed 283 jobs. Similarly, Zomato could well see a similar trend with new listings across different functional departments.

“The company’s focus will also be to hire legal and accounting staff to improve effectiveness of disclosure controls and procedures as a listed company. Hires with appropriate experience and technical accounting knowledge are expected to be preferred.

“Additionally, with the company having access to more capital, it can also strengthen its product and technology team that is the crux of its product – Zomato app. The company is contemplating to offer attractive compensations and benefits to retain talent. Currently, the company hires through employee referrals, but it may soon open hiring beyond its tried and tested talent sourcing methods.”