Foodpanda sees 230% spike in loss

BENGALURU: Online food delivery platform Foodpanda, owned by ride-hailing major Ola, reported a 230% increase in its losses in fiscal year 2019 to Rs 756 crore as compared to the previous year, as it ramped up spending on discounts and delivery costs.
The revenues of the unit, which Ola acquired from Germany’s Delivery Hero in December 2017, increased only by 11% to Rs 82 crore, according to data from business intelligence platform Tofler.
Since earlier this year, Ola has been shifting the focus of Foodpanda away from online food delivery from restaurants to just focus on its cloud kitchen business. These include Khichdi Experiment, Bowlsome and FLRT, which have also started delivering on platforms like Swiggy.
“These losses are a sign of Ola’s big-ticket investments in the food space on owned kitchens and owned brands. Ola has been investing in its vast network of cloud kitchens across cities,” said an industry source.
This move is expected to bring down losses, as the space has seen cash burn from rivals like Prosus Ventures-backed Swiggy, Ant Financial-backed Zomato and UberEats.