Deepinder Goyal on Scale Economics

Blinkit is now Eternal's largest business vertical by order value, with revenue growth of 145 percent year-on-year reported for one recent period — a vindication of Goyal's 568-million-dollar all-stock bet. The performance reframed the 2022 acquisition from a contested move into a category-defining consolidation in Indian quick commerce.

In January 2020 Zomato swallowed Uber Eats India in an all-stock deal worth roughly 206 million dollars, handing Uber a 9.99 percent stake. The trade absorbed a sub-5-percent rival and lifted Zomato's share of the Indian food-delivery market to roughly 52 percent — a textbook consolidation move just before COVID-19 lockdowns supercharged online ordering.

Zomato's parent reported a net profit of 253 crore rupees in the relevant reporting period alongside Blinkit's revenue surge — a moment that crystallised the dual-engine thesis of food delivery plus quick commerce. The combined numbers made Eternal a case study in disciplined post-IPO scaling of an Indian consumer-internet conglomerate.

Zomato reported its first quarterly profit in 2023, a milestone Goyal attributed to scale efficiencies, advertising monetisation and a tightening of zone-level delivery economics. The break into the green was read across the startup ecosystem as evidence that Indian consumer-internet firms could graduate from cash-burn to operating profit without ceding growth.

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 January 2020 Zomato absorbed Uber Eats India through an all-stock transaction worth around 206 million dollars, leaving Uber with a 9.99 percent holding. Uber Eats India had been sub-5-percent on volume; the deal pushed Zomato's share of the domestic food-delivery market to roughly 52 percent, consolidating the duopoly that would define the next phase.

As of 2023 Zomato provided food delivery and table reservation services across more than 800 Indian cities, while restaurant discovery was restricted to the UAE following the international exits. The refocus on India signalled management's bet that scale at home, rather than footprint abroad, would compound margins and justify the post-IPO valuation re-rating.