Food-delivery company Zomato has renewed its fintech partnership with Dubai-based inclusive finance platform Invoice Bazaar to bring working capital to restaurants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Restaurants listed on Zomato UAE will have access to the working capital.
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Zomato vice-president Neha Sood said: “Invoice Bazaar is the perfect fit for our restaurants. They are opening the doors to critical working capital finance and have already helped us to distribute more than $2.7m (AED10m).
“We look forward to continuing to work together to bring this inclusive financial opportunity to the more than 12,000 Zomato-listed restaurants across the UAE.”
The partnership between Zomato and Invoice Bazaar began last year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Restaurants are considered a business segment in the UAE but have limited access to traditional bank financing.
To address the issues this can cause, Invoice Bazaar is providing critical working capital to interested restaurants in real-time, based on their historical performance and receivables.
Initially, more than $2.7m (AED10m) in critical financing was disbursed by Invoice Bazar to Zomato-partnered restaurants, allowing them to build business with a primary focus on food deliveries.
The disbursement of capital is also said to have eased the burden on supplier payments while creating operating cost efficiencies.
Invoice Bazaar co-founder and CEO Anand Nagaraj said: “The restaurant ecosystem on Zomato is now benefiting from the cornerstone of running a restaurant: access to working capital. In turn, Invoice Bazaar is providing financial inclusion to small businesses consistent with our global mission.
“We are excited to grow our partnership together and bring working capital to thousands more restaurants across the UAE.”
