In this story, we are going to explore about details of those companies acquired by Zomato that led to their further success. Can you remember the times when you had to walk or take some sort of transportation miles to get your favorite food? There were times when we had to ignore harsh weather conditions if something essential used to run out in our house like vegetables, fish, or maybe milk.
But my friend! Gone are those days for the millennials and Gen Z and the upcoming generations. We along with our current predecessors have access to technology and it is mindblowing to understand the possibilities.
Due to the glorious advancements in technology, senior citizens, students, working professionals, caregivers and every section of society can get products at their doorsteps with just a click on their smartphones and through the website.
E-commerce has been developing for the last few years in India and we are seeing its power of it. The most interesting factor is that we can be flexible in our decisions to buy products due to more personalized settings from these online platforms.
Life is good, great, and free from limitations. This is not it and you can get your favorite food warm and carefully packed right outside your front door. Food delivery companies have seen significant growth in India and you do not need to be in the queue to get your delicious dish.
Food delivery companies are almost present in anybody’s smartphone as it is time-efficient for getting a meal and also allows room for booking tasty dishes at any time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it played a pivotal role for every one of us to get on-time food as we were concerned about a lot of things at that span in our lives.
Zomato is one of the most popular and successful food delivery companies in India and this piece of information will allow you to deep dive into the subsidiaries of Zomato that led to the company’s further development.
What is Zomato?
Zomato was founded in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah. The company has its headquarters in Gurugram, India. Earlier Zomato was known as ‘Foodie Bay’ and now the company has over 55 million users from about 24 countries.
The motto of Zomato is ‘Nobody will have a bad meal’ and acquired several companies over the years to ensure their expansion plans and development strategy. In the year 2021, Zomato raised about $2.1 billion from investors, which led to more scalability.
In the year 2011, Zomato also expanded its operations in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Bangalore, and many others. The next year, Zomato also became operational in countries like the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, and many others.
Zomato also launched a cloud kitchen set up in 2017, which allowed restaurants to strategize expansion at no additional costs. At the end of 2017, Zomato started a subscription plan called ‘Zomato Gold’ which allowed its users to get offers and several discounts from the restaurants partnered with the company.
Zomato became a unicorn in 2018 with an overall valuation of $1.1 billion. The infrastructure system for cloud kitchen was also closed by Zomato in the same year. In 2020, the food delivery business incurred losses due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zomato at that time started services in delivering groceries and essentials to its customers. In June 2022, Zomato also acquired Blinkit e-grocery, which is a 10-minutes delivery module. The acquisition amount was about $568 million.
Companies acquired by Zomato :
1. Menu Mania :
Menu Mania specializes in discovering restaurants that are based locally, where people can visit and have a nice dish. The company was founded in 2006 and has headquarters located in Auckland, New Zealand.
The Menu Mania app provides menus that are offered by local restaurants and provides several services to its users. With the help of this platform, one can give reviews about the food from local restaurants, rate the quality of the food and service, and also recommend that to their network.
In 2014, Zomato acquired Menu Mania for an undisclosed amount.
2. Urbanspoon :
Urbanspoon is an app that helps its users to find restaurants located locally. With the app, users can also review the restaurant, rate the food offered by the restaurant, and also recommend it to their acquaintances.
Urbanspoon was founded in 2006 by Adam Doppelt, Ethan Lowry, and Patrick O’ Donnell. The company has its headquarters in Seattle in the United States of America. Urbanspoon provides services in countries like Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland, and the US.
In 2015, Zomato acquired Urbanspoon for about $55 million and started to provide services to these countries.
3. MapleGraph Solutions Private Limited :
MapleGraph was established in the year 2011 by Arun Tangri and Varun Tangri. The company is a powerful technology team that has its headquarters in New Delhi, India. The services offered by this company are cloud-based and mobile-focused solutions for its clients.
In 2014, Zomato acquired MapleGraph Solutions in just four years after the inception of MapleGraph. The technology system of Zomato is based on this company’s platform that provides the facility to the restaurants for managing the menus and also has a payment system built into the system.
4. Runner :
In 2015, Runnr was founded by Aravind Reddy, Arpit Dave, Gnanesh Chillukuri, Mohit Kumar, Mukunda NS, and Vatsal Singhal. The startup provides management services from a hyperlocal perspective for the teams that collaborate with merchants. In 2017, Zomato acquired Runnr to enhance the food delivery system for customers. There is no amount disclosed in the acquisition of Runnr.
5. Uber Eats India :
Uber Eats is another great food delivery platform in India. Uber Eats is based on the American company founded by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick. In 2020, Uber Eats India was sold to Zomato by Uber for an amount of $206 million.
6. Lunchtime :
Lunchtime is a restaurant guide company located in the Czech Republic that gives information about the local pubs and cafes. Lunchtime was formed in 2000 and with the help of this app, users could find about 3,000 restaurants based in Bohemia and Moravia.
In 2014, Zomato acquired Lunchtime for an undisclosed sum of money. Zomato wanted to expand its network to more countries and this acquisition was based on that objective.
7. Obedovat :
Obedovat is based in Slovakia and it is an online guide for finding restaurants. Through this app, users can find local restaurants. The company was formed in 2004 and Zomato acquired Obedovat in 2014. For an acquisition amount of $3.25 million, Zomato got the network of Slovakia through Obedovat.
8. TongueStun :
In 2012, TongueStun was formed by Manjunath Ramakrishnan. The online platform deals with services like corporate catering. About 1,500 companies receive their catering demands from TongueStun. In the year 2018, Zomato acquired TongueStun and got into this industry. The startup was acquired for about $18 million.
9. Sparse Labs :
Sparse Labs is a company in the logistics industry that was established in 2014 by Pankaj Batra. This tech startup looks after hyperlocal delivery formats and ensures seamless delivery to the customers. In 2016, Zomato acquired Sparse Labs with an undisclosed sum of money. Sparse Labs helped Zomato to further grow the delivery system.
10. Cibando :
Cibando is a company for iPhone users to help them find different restaurants that are based in Italy. Guk Kim founded Cibando in 2010 and offered great service to its customers. In 2014, Zomato acquired Cibando and did not disclose any acquisition amount. By acquiring Cibando, Zomato reached the Italian market and sustained a promising business opportunity for itself.
11. Gastronauci :
Gastronauci is based in Poland and offers services for finding restaurants. In 2007, Gastronauci was founded and Zomato acquired it in 2014 in order as a part of Zomato’s expansion plan to other countries.
12. NexTable :
NexTable was founded in 2012 as a cloud-based management system for reserving tables in restaurants. The system helps the customers to reserve tables through the online setup. NextTable was acquired by Zomato in 2015 with an undisclosed acquisition amount. This system was later known as ‘Zomato Books’.
13. Mekanist :
Mekanist is a restaurant-finding app that is based in Turkey. With the help of this app, users can find pubs, restaurants, cafes, and many others. Mekanist was established in 2008 by Ali Servet Eyuboglu, Alper Tekin, and Eren Baydemir. Zomato acquired Mekanist in 2015 without disclosing the amount and expanded to the Turkish market.
In India, the Zomato company is known to almost everyone. It is a stellar company that provides stellar food delivery services along with impressive customer support. With more time. Zomato is expanding and strengthening its services in India and the globe. In return, we, the customers, are always satisfied with the company’s service. The company made a revenue of about Rs. 1,994 crore which also supports the business excellence of the management team.
Frequently Asked Questions :
- Who founded Zomato?
Ans: In 2008, Zomato was founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah.
- Who is Zomato’s, Chief Executive Officer?
Ans: Deepinder Goyal is the Chief Executive Officer of Zomato.
- What are some of the acquisitions of Zomato?
Ans: Uber Eats India, Runnr, Sparse Labs, and many others are acquired by Zomato.
