Deepinder Goyal on Globalization

Aggressive international expansion through 2012–2015 took Zomato into more than 20 countries, including the United States via the acquisition of Seattle-based Urbanspoon. The breadth-first push proved expensive; over 2022–2024 the company unwound most overseas markets, liquidating ten foreign subsidiaries inside a year — a tacit admission that global sprawl had underdelivered on unit economics.

From 2011 to 2015 Zomato entered more than 20 countries — from the UAE, Sri Lanka and Qatar in 2012 to New Zealand, Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia, Chile, Portugal, Canada and Ireland by 2015. The 2015 acquisition of Seattle-based Urbanspoon was the boldest move, plugging Zomato directly into the U.S. and Australian markets and pitting it against Yelp and Foursquare.

In March 2019 Zomato sold its UAE food-delivery business to Talabat, an early instance of the company exiting markets where the local density was unattractive. The pattern would intensify after 2022 as Zomato quietly wound down most international operations, liquidating ten overseas subsidiaries in under a year — a rare case of a unicorn voluntarily unwinding a global footprint.