Zomato is looking to acquire fitness and health coach startup Fitso

• Food delivery company Zomato is close to buying out a startup Fitso that offers training for runners and triathletes concentrating on swimming. 
• Fitso is not unfamiliar to Zomato though. Its Co-founder Naman Sharma was previously the head of mobile products at Zomato, according to his LinkedIn profile.
• Meanwhile, the company has raised around $250 million collectively from Tiger, Kora, and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek, an existing investor.
• The news is not yet confirmed

According to the report by Moneycontrol, Online food aggregator platform Zomato is close to buying out a startup Fitso that offers training for runners and triathletes and is currently concentrating on swimming. The startup offers coaching and access to all-weather swimming pools in Delhi-NCR throughout the year. 

The cash-and-stock transaction values Fitso, a five-year-old Gurugram-based company, at roughly $20 million, according to a person intimately familiar with the deal.

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“Negotiations have reached an advanced stage and the term sheet is being finalized,” said a person, not willing to be named.

The seeds of Fitso were sown in 2013 when Saurabh Aggarwal (a co-founder), an adventure enthusiast, decided to train for the Ironman Triathlon. Fitso started as a partner-finding app for runners and cyclists.

When contacted, Zomato declined to comment. Saurabh Aggarwal said, “There is no such deal at this point in time.”

Fitso is an unusual acquisition for Zomato, an enterprise not appropriate to its mainstay business and coming at a time when people are staying away from swimming pools due to fears of catching the coronavirus. 

Fitso is not unfamiliar to Zomato though. Its other Co-founder Naman Sharma was previously the head of mobile products at Zomato, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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Health and weight loss coach startup Fitso has so far raised a combined $1.7 million over five rounds, according to Crunchbase. The company has 10 investors, it said.

Meanwhile, Zomato has raised around $250 million collectively from Tiger, Kora, and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek, an existing investor.

Temasek has invested $60 million while $100 million each is coming from Tiger and Kora, a hedge fund focused on emerging markets.

For the financial year ended March 31, Zomato said that revenue more than doubled to $394 million, even as losses widened to $293 million from $277 million in the previous fiscal year. For the month of July, the company said its monthly burn rate is under $1 million, while revenue recovered 60% of pre-COVID-19 peaks.