After Acquiring US-Based UrbanSpoon, Zomato to be Available in 22 Countries Globally
It is a big day for foodies, as one of their favourite restaurant guide, Zomato, has entered the US market with the recent acquisition of UrbanSpoon. According to TechCrunch, the acquisition is worth $50-60 million, however, the company didn’t disclose the terms of the deal.
Urbanspoon is an IAC-owned restaurant information and recommendation service that operates in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Urbanspoon’s apps are known for their randomized Slot Machine. Users tap the ‘Spin’ button (or shake the device) to see new places to try based on neighborhood, cuisine or price.
This is one of the biggest deal in the food service industry as well as it marks the entry of Zomato in the USA market. Zomato claims that the deal is one of the largest purchases of a U.S-based consumer Internet company by an Indian start-up.
This latest deal, the sixth and biggest acquisition so far by Zomato, will be an all-cash transaction powered by the Gurgaon-based company’s most recent round of funding that closed in November. According to the founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal, most of Urbanspoon’s current staff will be retained, but its traffic and information will be redirected to Zomato’s apps and website by the end of March.
With US in its portfolio, Zomato has now reached 22 countries. Zomato last year acquired five restaurant search players in New Zealand, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy. The purchase should more than triple its database of restaurants, bringing the total up to over a million. In US, Zomato will compete with the likes of Google-backed online food listing portal Zagat and OpenTable. The deal will also help Zomato enter the Australian and Canadian market.
Zomato has recently revamped its online portal making it more like a Facebook for foodies. In the future, the company intends to add mobile payment options along with the ability to search among specific food items. Right now, Zomato’s biggest competition is Yelp which operates in about 28 countries and lists business ranging from restaurants to beauty salons and spas.
