Zomato is a multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery provider in India. It’s one of the most valuable unicorn startups in India. Zomato was founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008 and was initially known as Foodiebay, in just 2 years it was renamed Zomato. Zomato has become a core integral part of our daily routine life, it’s a revolution in the food industry. Initially, Zomato expanded its business to 24 other countries but after some business obstacles, the management decided to liquidate all subsidiaries in the international market except UAE and Sri Lanka.
History of Zomato
During the founding days
During an interview, CEO Deep Inner Goyal accepted that Zomato is not a planned startup; they just started a restaurant listing website in Delhi in 2008. Anyone can explore restaurants and their menus online on the Foodiebay website.
In 2009, after a good response in Delhi, Foodie Bay expanded its services to Mumbai and Kolkata, two major cities in India.
In 2010, the management decided to rename FoodieBay to Zomato to avoid confusion with eBay. Of course, after two years, the management is sure of big plans, so they want a unique name.
Expansion Phase
In 2011, Zomato expanded its services to other major cities of India like, Bengaluru, Pune, and Chennai with a new feature of reviews and ratings.
In 2012, Zomato extended its services to Dubai, Sri Lanka, Qatar, the UK, and the Philippines.
During 2013 and 2014, Zomato launched its app and aggressively expanded its services to New international markets like New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, and Turkey.
Introduction of Food Delivery Services and its Revolution
In 2015, Zomato introduced its revolutionary step, the food delivery services, and it became a new business model for Indian startups. Zomato launches a subscription service, Zomato Gold for free delivery and rewards.
During this period Zomato aggressively acquire many startups in the international market, like Urabanspoon in the US, Cibando in Italy, and Mekanist in Turkey, to strengthen its international presence.
During 2018 and 2019, Zomato faced huge competition from its major competitor Swiggy and both companies started facing huge losses due to intense competition and operational costs.
Start of the Golden period
During covid when people are not allowed to go outside, that’s a golden opportunity for Zomato and food and quick delivery service providers. The total business valuation was down during this period due to dining-out businesses and major restaurants closing and people preferred to eat home-cooked food but the COVID public and management both understand that quick delivery and food delivery apps are the future.
In 2022, Zomato acquired Blinkit, formerly known as Groffers, India’s one of the biggest quick commerce companies. After this acquisition, Zomato extended its services to a quick commerce market and strengthened its business for the future.
In August 2024, Zomato acquired, Paytm subsidiaries WEPL and OTPL for entertainment ticketing business.
After this acquisition, Zomato became a multipurpose app with food delivery, quick commerce, e-commerce, event tickets, and movie ticket services.
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IPO and share the History of Zomato
Zomato launched one of the biggest IPO in India on 14 July 2021 at an issue price of Rs. 72-76 per share.
Zomato IPO received good investor response, especially from retail investors, and was listed at the price of Rs.115
After 1 Year, Zomato touched the bottom at the price of Rs.46.80,
Most researchers suggested ignoring Zomato it’s a bubble but Just in few months after acquiring Blinkit, the business revenue of Zomato as a company changed and the share price started climbing,
In the Current time of October 2024, Zomato has crossed the Rs.270 mark, almost 6 times from its bottom and this fortune comes just in 3 years.