Info Edge (India) Ltd, the parent of businesses such as Naukri.com and 99acres.com, posted an over 47-fold jump in its net profit in the quarter-ended September on the back of the exceptional gains arising from the blockbuster listing of online food delivery giant Zomato.
The Noida-based company's net profit surged to Rs 7369.34 crore during the July-September quarter from Rs 155.33 crore in the same period last year, Info Edge said in a stock market disclosure.
Profit was boosted by its unrealised mark-to-market gain of Rs 8941.2 crore on its investment in Zomato and a realised gain of Rs 357.1 crore arising from sale of shares of Zomato under the offered for sale (OFS) route, it explained.
Its net sales increased by 37.3% to Rs 351.7 crore while billing at Rs 402.3 crore rose by 61.3%, during the period under review.
The jump in net sales was led by recruitment solutions, real estate portal 99acres and education services portal Shiksha.
Info Edge, in a separate disclosure, said that it has raised Rs 750 crore via qualified institutional placement (QIP). It will use the net proceeds to strengthen its financial position, and for working capital and general corporate requirements. The funds will also be used to invest in its existing businesses, in particular 99acres.com and for strategic initiatives, among others.
Shares of Info Edge were trading at Rs 6430.7 apiece on the BSE, up 0.55%.
Info Edge has been an active investor in startups for over a decade. It first invested in Zomato in 2010. It also invested in online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar, another unicorn with a billion-dollar valuation that listed earlier today. It has also bet on ed-tech venture NoPaperForms and business-to-business e-commerce platform ShopKirana.
Last year, Info Edge launched a venture capital fund to make more structured bets on tech and tech-enabled companies.
In December last year, Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings came in as an anchor for its debut venture fund.
