Deepinder Goyal on M&A / Acquisitions

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.

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.

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.

The 2022 Blinkit acquisition — an all-stock deal worth roughly 568 million dollars — wedged Zomato into quick commerce, the 10–15-minute grocery category that Albinder Dhindsa's startup was pioneering. Goyal's defence of the deal rested on the thesis that convenience, once tasted, becomes addictive; Blinkit would later become Eternal's largest business by order value.

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.