STARTUP OF THE YEAR - ZOMATO

The  Economic Times Startup of The Year 2014 is Zomato. Zomato is an online restaurant discovery guide providing information on home delivery, dining-out, cafés and nightlife in cities of India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Chile, Portugal, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Canada, and most recently, Lebanon. Zomato recently acquired the online restaurant search services in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. The site has an Alexa rank of 1,067 in the world and 92 in India as of July 2014.

When Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal heard the news that his firm was ET Startup of The Year 2014, the 31-year-old left his meal unfinished to call his colleagues and share the news with them. It is this kind of camaraderie that has made the company, which was set up in 2008 by Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, 29, grow from an office cubicle to having a presence in 16 countries globally.

"We are elated with this news. Since the time I entered IIT Delhi, I always wanted to start something of my own," said Goyal. Zomato employs about 800 people now, of which almost half are based India. "Our goal now is to build a billion dollar company out of India which can rival large players such as Yelp by entering the US, the largest dining market in the world," he added. The startup is aiming to earn revenue of about Rs 100 crore this year and has turned profitable in India. As colleagues at Gurgaon-based Bain Consulting, Goyal and Chaddah used to collect food menus of restaurants nearby that they would pin to their soft boards. When they saw how often their colleagues used to leaf through the bundle, the two had their big idea.

For about 18 months, the two worked on weekends on their website that soon listed 1,200 restaurants in New Delhi. Enthused by the results, they hired Gunjan Patidar, their junior from IIT Delhi, to run the show till they quit Bain Consulting to join fulltime in 2009. Goyal did not disclose that he had set up Zomato to his academician parents till six months after quitting his job for fear of a rebuke. However, the secret was unearthed when they visited Delhi from their hometown in Punjab. There was no looking back however for the duo, despite parental advice to go back to doing a 'real' job. "They feel very proud now," said Goyal.Delhi-based Info Edge invested $1 million in the venture, which was rebranded from Foodiebay to Zomato to focus on other segments besides food. With the seed money, Zomato expanded to Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Zomato also set up an events listing and ticketing portal that was shut in 2012. "The learning from the failure was that it is extremely important to stay focused on the core product and not spread ourselves thin," said Goyal. The company's headquarters is based in a plush Gurgaon building completely renovated by employees themselves. The Zomato building has eating nooks and a mini kitchen for cooking eggs, noodles and toast on each of its floors. The turning point for Zomato came in 2012 when it ventured outside India. "While we were slightly nervous, our success in the UAE set the tone for our global expansion," Goyal said. Zomato now also operates in the UK, the UAE, South Africa, New Zealand, the Philippines, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Qatar. The company has 240,000 restaurant listings ranging from street food outlets and small cafes to plush restaurants at five-star hotels. Revenue till now originated mostly from paid listings and banner ads.

However, the company is revamping its model from this year to start monetising table bookings. It is also looking at getting into cash-less payment at restaurants. "We are moving to the uber kind of one-touch payment model where money will be automatically deducted from your credit card after you leave the restaurant," said Goyal. For table bookings, the company has already tied up with two of the largest companies in London — TopTable and LiveBookings. Zomato passes on reservation leads to them and earns a commission in return.