Deepinder Goyal, CEO and co-founder of Zomato, has said that the online food delivery company will invest only in those businesses that can add $10 billion to the shareholder value.

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"We don't want to build businesses that can add just $1 billion to shareholder value anymore. We need to be prudent with our team's time and the money in our bank. We will only invest in businesses that we see adding more than $10 billion to our market cap going forward," said Goyal.

Goyal, however, said that there is a pressing need to invest in other businesses to fuel Zomato's growth. "Food delivery is the primary business and it is doing well... Food is what we will stay focussed on... We are investing in some really good founders and companies — all in synergistic or adjacent areas to our business," he told Economic Times.

When asked if he will be interested in making strategic investments, Goyal said, "If there are any interesting opportunities for us, we will certainly be interested."

The statement comes nearly three months after Zomato’s stellar initial public offering (IPO), through which it garnered a valuation of Rs 1 trillion.

Talking about the shift in the company's approach post-IPO, Goyal said, "You become a public company the day you decide to go public, not the day you actually go public. I think we are more aggressive now than we were before going public."

Elaborating on the transition from being a private company to becoming a public one, Goyal said, "There is zero space for me to lie to our team. And I have to be on the ball as the first person to walk into the office and the last one to go out every single day. None of this changed as we became a public company. We are very adamant that we are going to preserve the foundation of our culture for as long as we live."

Last week, while speaking at a panel of Maximum India Conclave organised by the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Goyal said, "There is a lot of pressure post the IPO... We used to get a lot of love... did so much work around COVID. But everybody forgot everything after the IPO which is painful to see."

Goyal was apparently referring to the negative comment over the company's high valuation in the IPO. Earlier, ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala had said that he wouldn't buy Zomato shares at the given valuation.

In its last funding round before the IPO, Zomato was valued at $5.4 billion.