Here’s how much Zomato’s company dream team has made since October 2021: Deepinder Goyal, Akshant Goyal

Here’s how much Zomato’s company dream team has made since October 2021: Deepinder Goyal, Akshant Goyal

Deepinder Goyal, the founder and CEO of Zomato, earned 387 crores worth of shares under an employee stock option plan in the second half of the fiscal year 2022. He, on the other hand, does not benefit personally from it.

Last month, Goyal contributed all of his ESOP income, totalling Rs 700 crore, to the Zomato Future Foundation, which will be used to provide free education to the children of delivery partners, among other things. This includes the ESOPs he’d been assigned in the second half of 2022.

Not taking any salary till FY2024

He also agreed to forego his salary for the entire year, which concluded in March. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had also accepted a pay cut.

In FY2021, Goyal had a basic salary of 1.96 crores, down from 3.5 crores the previous year. Last year, while Zomato was gearing up for its public launch, Goyal stated that he would not be taking any money home as a salary for the next three years.

In its IPO documents, the business started, “Deepinder Goyal has voluntarily renounced his compensation for a period of 36 months beginning April 1, 2021, and shall continue to fulfil his tasks and obligations as MD and Chief Executive Officer during this period.”

How much did others earn?

Between October 2021 and March 2022, Zomato reported in regulatory filings on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that the company spent Rs 778 crore on salaries and other incentives such as ESOPs.

CFO Akshant Goyal, for example, had skipped pay for the months of January, February, and March.

How Does Zomato Work?

Zomato is a restaurant aggregation and food delivery service based in India. It focuses on providing specific restaurant information, menus, and user reviews. It also provides food delivery from partnered restaurants in the cities chosen.

Founders & Team

Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah founded Zomato. Both are IIT grads who previously worked at Bain & Co in New Delhi before starting this business.

Deepinder Goyal

Deepinder Goyal is a graduate of IIT Delhi. Goyal was not an exceptionally bright student in school, but he eventually earned a spot at the famed IIT. Goyal was hired by Bain and Company after graduating, where he worked as a Senior Associate Consultant for a little less than four years until founding Zomato.

Pankaj Chaddah

Pankaj Chaddah graduated from IIT Delhi with a BTech in Mechanical Engineering. Chaddah finished his studies and moved to work for Bain and Company for two and a half years before partnering with Deepinder to start Zomato. However, in May 2018, this co-founder left Zomato, where he had worked for almost ten years as a “conscience keeper, and a support system through upheavals,” as he described his role.

In November 2019, Chaddah created Shyft (previously Mindhouse), where he presently works as a Co-Founder.

Gaurav Gupta, who joined the company as the Global Head of Advertising Sales and COO before moving to the platform’s Co-Founder position, left on September 14, 2021. Gaurav was in charge of the food tech company’s supply chain.

Since going public in July, Zomato has been shuttering some of its business lines and subsidiaries, including its grocery delivery service, nutraceuticals, and a number of its international subsidiaries. Gaurav Gupta’s resignation came from the company’s decision to discontinue its grocery delivery and nutraceutical services.

Gaurav Gupta had written a beautiful farewell email, which he distributed to everyone at Zomato, with a particular message for Deepinder Goyal. Deepinder Goyal, the CEO of Zomato, has not failed to respond to the heartfelt letter.

Deepinder also tweeted on his co-departure, the founder’s thanking him for the incredible ride they shared. Here’s what he said on Twitter:

The Zomato recruiting team believes that finding the right personnel is critical to the company’s rapid expansion. Recruiting this pool of employees was also one of the significant achievements made while laying the groundwork for Zomato. The company now has a team that will be critical in completing its dream project. According to the Zomato Linkedin profile, the company’s workforce count ranges from 1001 to 5000. 

Zomato: History

Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, the founders, were in their New Delhi office when they spotted a long queue of people waiting for a flash of the menu card. It was at that precise moment that the idea for a solution germinated in the minds of this partnership, leading to the founding of Zomato, known initially as ‘Foodiebay.’

Zomato turned 13 in July 2021, and the company celebrated in style on July 10, 2021. On July 10, 2021, Pramod Rao, who served as Zomato’s VP of Marketing and was instrumental in creating the marketing team and growing the firm’s operations, sent a statement on his Linkedin profile congratulating the brand and including a cheerful video of the brand at work.

Zomato – Startup Launch

It wasn’t called Zomato when the founders launched it; it was called Foodiebay. And it all started in Delhi, with services subsequently spreading to Mumbai and Kolkata.

Because of the large user base and rapid growth rates attracted by Foodiebay, the founders decided to develop it globally. The company became known as Zomato, as we know it now, at that point. For the first time, in 2010, Foodiebay was renamed Zomato.

Zomato – Mission and Vision

“Our objective is to ensure no one has a horrible dinner,” Zomato says.

Pankaj Chaddah, a co-founder of Zomato, stated that the company’s objective is to “be the global platform when someone is seeking meals locally.”

Name, tagline, and logo for Zomato

“Never have a lousy dinner” is the company’s tagline.

Zomato’s Revenue Model and Business Model

The adverts channel that Zomato gives to display is currently the portal’s primary source of revenue. Most of its earnings come from this, followed by commissions charged to eateries. It operates based on a commission-based business model.

Zomato has stated that it will no longer charge restaurant partners commissions on takeaway orders. Zomato made the news to assist them in recovering faster from the economic crisis brought on by the Covid-19 outbreak, which also offered clients an option of Zomato delivery service or home delivery.

Startup Challenges – Zomato

The most significant challenge in Zomato’s approach was figuring out how to cover all of the restaurants in all of the locations of all of the main cities so that their clients don’t miss out on the top eateries in the area. Since the endeavour’s inception, this milestone has been omnipresent and continues to fuel significant efforts on the part of the venture.

This, however, is not the case. Zomato was faced with several major obstacles that were “make or break” scenarios for the team from time to time. The following are some of Zomato’s challenges:

Gig Worker Shortage

Gig workers have recently been in short supply in the food delivery and quick commerce industries. This was also evident in Zomato’s FY22 financial and operating performance report. In response, Zomato stated that the gig worker scarcity would be normalised in a few weeks, according to reports dated May 24, 2022. The COVID-19-induced worker movement has resulted in a total labour shortage. As more and more countries open up their economies, Goyal noted that many people have relocated to other cities and taken up new careers and positions.

Zomato Shares Stoop Low, its Investors’ Money Half Wiped Out

As of May 6, 2022, Zomato had wiped out more than half of the money raised from investors. Since the beginning of the year 2022, the company’s stock has dropped by 55 per cent. They’ve plummeted by roughly 28% in only the last month (April). Zomato’s stock price decreased to Rs 71.6 on April 29, after last reaching Rs 141.35 on January 3, 2022. Zomato’s stock continued to fall on the NSE, earning Rs 61.50 on May 5, 2022, after dropping more than 7% to end at Rs 64.90 on May 4. The food-tech giant’s stock also hit an all-time low of Rs 60.50 on May 5.

Zomato is under CCI scrutiny due to bad “conduct.”

The Competition Commission of India has been looking into the food tech titans Zomato and Swiggy. According to the reports dated April 4, 2022, the regulatory agency deemed both food tech unicorns’ behaviour undesirable. Both Zomato and Swiggy have received accusations alleging that they engage in deep discounting, pay their partners late, and, most crucially, charge excessive commissions. The Director-General of CCI must complete his inquiry into this situation within 60 days.

Meanwhile, Zomato has announced a new food policy that will take effect on April 18, 2022. The food tech giant may temporarily disable food ordering from certain restaurants if complaints about the businesses’ food quality are received. However, it’s worth noting that Zomato will rigorously authenticate the food quality concerns before doing so. Following widespread criticism, the popular food tech business has postponed the introduction of its new food policy until May 3. With the impending threat of jeopardising restaurant partners’ reputations and customer trust, the unicorn food aggregator is questioning when it will be able to apply the policy and whether it would be beneficial.

Zomato Layoffs

In 2015, Zomato had to fire off 300 individuals to save costs, which had a significant impact on the company because 10 per cent of the layoffs were in the United States.

Failed Rebranding Attempt

In the United States, Zomato purchased Urbanspoon in 2015 and renamed it their own. The rebranding, however, did not go as anticipated, and the endeavour was a complete failure.

Cyberattacked

Then, in 2017, a hacker challenged Zomato’s sustainability by getting access to 17 million user records from the company’s database, jeopardising the company’s survival. While the hacker had access to names, user IDs, email addresses, usernames, and password hashes, Zomato quickly clarified that the hacker only had access to those things. Soon after, the breach was closed by contact with the hacker, who revealed that he only wanted to prove that the system had security flaws that needed to be fixed to secure the system and the firm.

#RejectZomato

Zomato has seen a number of controversies. In one recent incident where a customer service representative of the company didn’t know Tamil. Instead of giving a customer from Tamil Nadu a refund, he lectured him on the importance of knowing “Hindi” as the national language. On October 19, 2021, the consumer took to Twitter, and the #RejectZomato movement quickly gained traction.

This episode called into question the meal delivery company’s dedication to India’s non-Hindi speaking populace, leading to the termination of a customer service representative for acting “against the values of sensitivity.” In addition, the renowned food technology business has committed to opening a native Tamil call centre in Coimbatore shortly. However, the customer service agent was reinstated three hours after the incident. Deepinder Goyal, the CEO of Zomato, later tweeted:

“An inadvertent error made by someone in a food delivery company’s support centre became a national controversy. Our country’s tolerance and coolness levels need to be much greater than they are present. “Who is to blame in this case?”

Zomato – Competitors

Despite its dominance in the business, Zomato is up against many direct and indirect competitors. Swiggy is a direct competitor for Zomato, but it also faces competition from other competitors such as:

• Faasos
• Box8
• Domino’s
• FreshMenu
• Pizza Hut
• TravelKhana

Some of the other international competitors of Zomato are:

• DoorDash
• Uber Eats
• Grubhub Inc.
• Deliveroo
• Postmates
• ChowNow

Zomato – Funding & Investors

Zomato has raised about $2.1 billion in funding so far. Zomato just secured a $250 million fundraising round, led by current investors Tiger Global, Kora, and Fidelity, in February 2021. The company has a market capitalization of $5.4 billion. Kora put in $115 million, Fidelity put in $55 million, and Tiger Global put in $50 million in this round.

The $660 million investment headed by Kora and Tiger Global Management and the $250 million round led by the same investors alongside Fidelity and a few other investors are two of Zomato’s most recent funding rounds. The previous major investment round before a $210 million round led by Ant Financial in October 2018. Alibaba and other Chinese investors have aided the expansion of food tech businesses in India, where Chinese giants such as Alipay, Ant Financials, and others have invested in Zomato and its rival Swiggy.

The company raised Rs 4,196 crores from its marquee anchor investors, which will be used to support the anchor book allocation. With about 18.4 per cent of Zomato’s shares, Info Edge India is the company’s largest stakeholder.

In March 2018, Zomato became a unicorn. When Pankaj Chaddah, the company’s co-founder, left the company in the same month, the food tech behemoth joined the illustrious unicorn club of Indian startups.

Zomato – Investments

Alibaba and other Chinese investors have aided the expansion of food tech businesses in India, where Chinese giants such as Alipay, Ant Financials, and others have invested in Zomato and its rival Swiggy.

The company has raised Rs 4,196 crores from its marquee anchor investors, which will be used to support the anchor book allocation. 

In March 2018, Zomato became a unicorn. When Pankaj Chaddah, the company’s co-founder, left the company in the same month, the food tech behemoth joined the illustrious unicorn club of Indian startups. The acquisition of Mukunda, a food robots business formed in 2012, will allow Zomato to assist restaurants in becoming more productive with less staff and reducing waste and increasing kitchen throughput.

On January 28, 2022, it invested in the adtech firm Adonmo Pvt Ltd and UrbanPiper Technology, a B2B software platform. Since then, the Gurugram-based food delivery company has invested $5 million in UrbanPiper and $15 million in Adonmo.

According to news dated February 3, 2022, Zomato Co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal, who first invested in Blinkit in 2015, has sold his stock to Tiger Global before the company goes public. In June 2021, the Gurugram-based food unicorn re-invested in Blinkit.

Zomato – Acquisitions

Zomato has acquired close to 14 firms throughout its 12+ year history. Zomato’s most recent acquisition, FITSO, was made on January 20, 2021, for around Rs 80 crore. The acquisition of Uber Eats – India, which took place on January 21, 2020, is one of the company’s most notable acquisitions. Uber Eats – Zomato purchased India for $350 million. The company gained over 70K active delivery partners from the Uber Eats network due to this transaction.

According to a filing with the Competition Commission of India, Zomato first announced that it would be buying roughly 9.3 per cent of Grofers. According to certain insiders who asked to remain anonymous, the corporation looked to purchase Grofers in the long run, even though this was a modest shareholding. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the Zomato-Blinkit (formerly Grofers) agreement in a tweet dated August 13, 2021, in which the former company will acquire 9.3 per cent ownership in Grofers (Blinkit).

However, since pivoting, Blinkit had lost its unicorn status and was experiencing financial difficulties until Zomato saw fit to assist Blinkit. On March 16, 2022, Zomato gave Blinkit a $150 million loan after investing roughly $100 million in the same month. The two businesses eventually merged, which would be accomplished through an all-stock agreement that will value Blinkit at $725 million.

The Zomato Blinkit merger, on the other hand, was awaiting approval from Zomato’s board of directors, who have finally confirmed that they will have a meeting on June 17, 2022, to approve the acquisition of Blinkit. According to reports dated June 7, 2022, Zomato would not need the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) approval for this takeover deal and instead invoke the ‘de minimise’ exemption.

Zomato – ESOPs

According to sources, Zomato will be placed on the Indian stock exchange on July 23, 2021. On Thursday, July 22, 2021, the firm distributed its shares, with Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal receiving the biggest ESOPs for Rs 2,800 crores and owning over 5% of Zomato independently.

Ankit Kawatra, the founder of the non-profit Feeding India, came in second, with ESOPs of Rs 628 crores. With Rs 208, Rs 202, and Rs 156 crores, Mohit Gupta, Gaurav Gupta, and Gunjan Patidar were the next in line. Deepinder Goyal, the founder and CEO of Zomato, has announced that he will donate the whole benefits of his last vested ESOP worth Rs 700 crore to the Zomato Future Foundation. 

Zomato – Growth and Revenue

Since introducing the revolutionary concept of food delivery to the Indian startup scene, Zomato has expanded rapidly. Zomato is in talks with restaurant partners and cloud kitchens to develop ultra-fast meal deliveries as part of its new expansion push. Zomato will start a speedier food delivery service on March 18, 2022, according to this latest effort. Food will be delivered within 10 minutes of ordering. Zomato has previously performed this experiment in Bengaluru in 2021 and plans to expand it to other cities in April 2022. 

Zomato’s Shares Rise

Zomato’s shares rose 4% the next day when the food tech unicorn announced its Q4 earnings in FY22 on May 23, 2022. Zomato’s stock has been steadily growing and was trading at Rs 67.05 at 9:38 a.m. on May 24, 2022. Zomato’s stock climbed about 14% on the BSE on May 24, 2022, and ended the day 13.65% higher at Rs 64.95.

Zomato – Zomato Payments

Zomato has announced the formation of Zomato Payments Private Limited, a wholly-owned company subsidiary. Zomato stated in its statement that the subsidiary was formed with a subscription of 10,000 equity shares of Rs 10 apiece, totalling Rs 1,00,000.

With its newly incorporated entity, the Indian food delivery giant plans to function as a payment aggregator and offer payment gateway services in accordance with RBI requirements. The all-new Zomato Payments will work as a payment and settlement system and a payment gateway. They will also be a payment solution for paying goods, services, and utility bills using mobile phones.

Zomato – Zomaland

Zomaland is India’s largest food and entertainment festival, bringing together some of the country’s best restaurants, musicians, DJs, comedians, interactive installations, and carnival games, all under one roof. It’s like an offline version of Zomato Collections, where it curates and puts together the city’s greatest restaurants.

It is Zomato’s signature event. Over 100,000 people attended the inaugural edition of this carnival in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai in 2018. Since then, it has expanded to over ten locations, partnering with significant businesses such as the Singapore Tourism Board.

Zomato Revenue, Expenses and Financials

Zomato’s revenue for FY20 was Rs 2,486 crore. In FY19, it made Rs. 1312.6 crore in revenue. After becoming public in July 2021, Zomato issued its quarterly earnings report for the first time ever. According to the report, Zomato reported adjusted gross revenue of Rs 1,160 crore, consisting of Rs 844 crore in operations revenue and Rs 316 crore in customer delivery charges. The following is a breakdown of Zomato’s revenue for FY19-20:

The company, managed by Deepinder Goyal, reported its FY22 revenue from operations, which increased by more than 2X from Rs 1993.8 crore in FY21 to Rs 4192.4 crore in FY22.

Expenses and Loss

Zomato’s overall expenses in FY22 were Rs 6205.5 crore, up from Rs 2608.8 crore the previous year. The company’s losses increased to Rs 1222.5 crore in FY22, up from Rs 816.4 crore in FY21. So far, Zomato has been a loss-making business. 

Zomato – Awards and Achievements

Zomato has received several notable honours over the years. Even at the seventh edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards, the food tech behemoth took home top prizes, including the Startup of the Year title in 2021.

Partnerships at Zomato

Since its inception in 2008, Zomato has formed numerous relationships with a broad spectrum of national and international businesses, including restaurants, cafes, fintech firms, and others. Some of Zomato’s most well-known partnerships include:

• On February 5, 2021, Zomato teamed with the Indian government for a street food project; on December 21, 2020, Zomato worked with InCred to give loans to restaurant partners.

• On March 2, 2020, Zomato partnered with RBL Bank to launch the “Edition Credit card” powered by Mastercard; on October 21, 2019, Zomato and BioD Energy collaborated to reduce cooking oil waste in India; and on January 18, 2019, Zomato partnered with Paytm to expand its food ordering business online in India.

Zomato – Future Plans

Zomato is focused on its Indian food delivery company after shuttering most of its abroad operations. Zomato is expected to develop at a 40% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Deepinder Goyal hopes to figure out the best possible way of delivering food in 10 minutes and leveraging the same to grow. As of May 24, 2022, Zomato Instant is only being tested in one area.

Edited by Prakriti Arora