Zomato

Zomato is a multinational restaurant aggregator and online food delivery service provider. It was established 15 years ago in July 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah as FoodieBay. It initially started with listing of restaurants on its platform and gradually diversified into online food delivery, restaurant booking and quick commerce. It offers details like menus and user reviews for restaurants on its platform.

Zomato currently covers over 1,000 cities and towns in India, providing food delivery from partnered restaurants.

The company went public after the launch of its IPO in July 2021.

Zomato business operations

In 2010, Goyal and Chaddah rebranded FoodieBay to Zomato due to uncertainty about focusing only on food and also due to the similarity of the brand with eBay. The following year, Zomato extended its reach across India, covering major cities Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. By 2012, the company expanded globally into countries like the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Qatar, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and South Africa. In 2013, Zomato was introduced in New Zealand, Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia. The company launched websites and apps in Turkish, Portuguese, Indonesian and English languages. In 2014, Zomato entered Portugal, followed by expansions into Canada, Lebanon and Ireland in 2015.

In January 2015, Zomato acquired Urbanspoon, a restaurant discovery portal based in Seattle, US. This acquisition marked Zomato's entry into the United States and Australia. The expansion into the US put Zomato in direct competition with platforms like Yelp and Foursquare, which were operating in the same segment.

Over the years, Zomato has acquired many companies. In 2016, it acquired Sparse Labs, a Gurgaon-based technology startup, and rebranded it as Zomato Trace. The company expanded its portfolio by acquiring TongueStun Food in September 2018. TongueStun Food is a Bengaluru-based food e-marketplace.

Zomato acquired its rival Uber Eats on January 21, 2020. Zomato acquired a 9.3% stake in Grofers by investing nearly $120 million in June 2021. The company then completed the acquisition of Grofers in a $568 million deal in 2022. The quick grocery delivery entity was rebranded as Blinkit.

Zomato has many subsidiaries as of 2023. Blinkit (formerly Grofers) and Hyperpure are the most famous ones. Blinkit is a quick commerce platform for customers to order everyday essentials. Hyperpure is a B2B platform that provides high-quality ingredients and kitchen products to partner restaurants.