It was only in 2022, Zomato acquired Grofers, a hyperlocal grocery delivery app for INR 4,447 Cr. (USD 532 Mn). Later, the business was rebranded as Blinkit and is now functioning as a full fledged Quick Commerce model.
Zomato originally began its journey as a discovery platform, hosting names, addresses and phone numbers of restaurants and establishments, which can be rated by users.
The App onboarded thousands of small and mid-sized restaurants on its App, while also providing them software services for billing, tracking deliveries, etc.
Over time, Zomato entered the food delivery model, competing against the likes of Foodpanda, Uber Eats and the most formidable of them all, Swiggy.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, many of the food delivery businesses (Apps, mostly) crumbled while the likes of Swiggy and Zomato stood out due to their tech prowess.
In a recent move, it is said that Zomato intends to acquire the non-core businesses of PayTM such as its ticketing business.
PayTM Insider is a platform where events, movies and other cultural outings are posted, where users can explore, as well as purchase its tickets.
Once PayTM Movies and Insider are merged, it becomes a sweet buy for a platform like Zomato, even as it serves over 1.4 million orders everyday to consumers across India.
PayTM had earlier acquired platforms such as Insider.in, an online ticketing and events platform as well as an event management company Only Much Louder in 2017 for an estimated INR 35 Cr.
In 2018, it acquired Chennai based Ticket New to bulk up its entertainment business.
PayTM intended to cash in on its growing ilk of user base who use its QR code based UPI platform for making digital payments.
It was in fact on 9 Nov. 2016, when PayTM took full page advertisements across Indian newspapers to urge Indians to use its payment technology, on the back of the Demonitisation announced on 8 Nov. ‘16 by PM Modi.
Ever since, PayTM has been among the most popular names for UPI payments, although its market share is a mere 8%, with PhonePe leading the pack with 49% and Google Pay with 38%.
PayTM has also been mired in various controversies around its PayTM Payments Bank with The Reserve Bank of India temporarily suspending its operations earlier this year.
The move to consolidate its consumer business by Zomato is seen as an icing on the cake, even as the Food Tech business is facing multiple challenges.
Consumers are wary of paying higher prices to platforms, for the sake of convenience.
Most importantly, diners are back in restaurants for the sake of enjoying a meal, be it a daily dose or that of a celebration.
It is to be seen how Zomato will woo users (once again) with its latest acquisition if it sees the light of the day.