What’s cooking at Zomato? Inside Deepinder Goyal’s game-changing 2024 moves

Deepinder’s Year: Be it entering the India’s ticketing and experiential business with Zomato Live or becoming a part of India’s most famous business reality television series Shark Tank India, the year 2024 has been an eventful year for Zomato ’s co-founder Deepinder Goyal. Getting married, hosting standup comedians for roasting the company, running headline-worthy marketing campaigns, and delivering food to Zomato customers himself, Deepinder had it all in 2024 with the hopes of more coming his way as the year comes to an end. But what else's cooking inside India's biggest food delivery platform? Here are some key insights. 

From Zomato ’s first profit to strong outlook

In August 2024, Deepinder’s food delivery platform turned profitable for the first time ever in the first quarter of the financial year 2024 with a consolidated profit for the quarter to be Rs 2 crore. This marked a recovery for the company from a net loss of Rs 186 crore in the year-ago period.

Since then, the company has focused on increasing revenue and adding platform fees to each order, adding significantly to its profit margins. For the first quarter of the current financial year (Q1FY25), the company has posted multifold year-on-year growth in its consolidated net profit to Rs 253 crore, beating the analyst estimates. 

As the company continues to expand its operations, the analysts expect it to report a major increase in both revenue and net profit for the September quarter of FY 2024-25.

Returns for Zomato investors 

Shares of online food aggregator Zomato have delivered multi-bagger returns to investors during this calendar year with nearly 112 per cent upside from the price of Rs 124 to Rs 263.90 apiece. While in last 12 months, the stock of the company has surged more than 142 per cent or Rs 155 points. 

Zomato made its stock market debut in July 2021 at the price of Rs 115, raising Rs 9,375 crore. Zomato IPO garnered a strong response from the investors and was subscribed 38.25 times of the available lots. 

Zomato ’s big bet: Blinkit

Blinkit , an Indian quick-commerce platform, quickly gained popularity for its unique value proposition: delivering groceries within 10 minutes by stocking items in hyper-local warehouses. In 2022, Zomato acquired Blinkit in an all-stock deal valued at $568 million. With this, Zomato expanded into quick commerce, complementing its food delivery business. By 2024, Blinkit had grown rapidly, handling approximately 600,000 orders daily, solidifying its position as a major player in the sector.

Blinkit , previously known as Grofers, is an Indian quick-commerce platform that was founded in December 2013 by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar. Headquartered in Gurgaon, the company quickly gained popularity for its unique value proposition: delivering groceries within 10 minutes by stocking items in hyper-local warehouses. 

"When we acquired Blinkit , it was a culmination of everything that we learnt about customers first... Albinder and I had the right amount of trust. Blinkit will be larger than Zomato in one-tenth the time. The scale it brings to the table is huge," Goyal said while talking about Blinkit ’s acquisition. 

Who is Deepinder Goyal? 

Deepinder Goyal, born on 26 January 1983 in Muktsar, Punjab, comes from a family of educators. His father was a Botany teacher, while his mother taught English. Goyal completed his schooling at DAV College in Chandigarh and went on to graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, with a degree in Mathematics and Computing.

After finishing his studies, Goyal began his career at Bain & Company in Gurgaon, where he worked for three years. During this time, he noticed a growing demand for menu cards, sparking the idea that eventually led to the creation of Zomato .

How did Deepinder Goyal start Zomato ? 

After graduating from IIT Delhi, Deepinder Goyal joined Bain & Company as a Senior Associate Consultant in January 2006. It was during his time at Bain that Goyal, alongside his colleague Pankaj Chaddah, founded FoodieBay.com, the precursor to what is now known as Zomato . 

The idea came to him as a result of a common frustration: long queues to order food in the office cafeteria. Goyal and Chaddah developed an intranet-based local solution for Bain employees to browse restaurant menus and place orders, which quickly became popular within the company.

At the time, ordering food online was a cumbersome process with limited information about restaurant ratings, reviews, and offers. Food delivery discounts were almost unheard of. Recognising the potential to streamline the experience for a broader audience, the duo launched FoodieBay.com in 2008, initially targeting Delhi NCR. 

It was soon rebranded as Zomato in 2010 to broaden its appeal beyond food.

Zomato went on to expand into various cities and countries, gaining a massive user base. What started as a simple solution to save time at work blossomed into one of the most prominent food tech platforms globally, changing how people discover restaurants and order food.