Following the grand market debut of Zomato’s initial public offer (IPO) and its listing on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the founder Deepinder Goyal now stands as amidst the country’s 1 per cent in terms of wealth. His personal fortune is close to the $1 billion mark now, according to a report by Bloomberg. The start-up founder is now worth about $650 million considering his 4.7 per cent stake in Zomato, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. When one takes into account the 368 million other options, that are vested over the next six years, it translates to his assets doubling, as per the report.
While this number is still far behind the likes of other billionaires such as Mukesh Ambani –who is worth around $80 billion – as well as other Indian billionaires, it is important to note that the start-up billionaire community in India is a small one. After the 66 per cent stock jump that for the company turned Zomato Ltd, Goyal was essentially catapulted into the ultra-rich category overnight according to the report.
This IPO was one for the ages as it stands as one of the largest undertaken by a start-up to date, that too in the online food-delivery industry. What started as a simple restaurant and food listing website has broken through the glass ceiling and become a true industrial giant. The journey that started in 2008 is an inspiration to start-up founders and entrepreneurs in India. As a nation, we have recorded around $6.3 billion in funding and deals for technology for the start-up space in the second quarter according to Bloomberg. This earmarks the rising entrepreneurial activity and venture capitalist involvement.
Zomato is one of the front-runners amidst the Indian internet unicorns in India to tap into local capital markets. The company with a market capitalisation of $13.3 billion, represents a positive trend for the country’s retail investors according to reports. The IPO made big waves when it opened for trading on it was subscribed over 38.25 times against the 71.92 crore shares. The price band for the IPO was set for between Rs 72 and Rs 76 per equity share, and in that, it received over 2,751.27 crore bids. The strongest response was from retail buyers and the Qualifies Institutional Buyers (QIBs) that went on from July 14 to July 16 when it closed its subscription.
Goyal and his colleague Pankaj Chaddah began their Zomato journey by just uploading menus of neighbourhood cafes and restaurants on their website. Back then it was not even called Zomato. The company was initially dubbed ‘Foodiebay’. The service they provided of collating restaurant-based information quickly caught on fire as they attracted their first investment of $1 million from their now long-time investor, Info Edge India Ltd. Eventually other investors such as Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management and Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. joined the ranks, backing Zomato in its growth.
The company transitioned into the years as it brought on more services and features such as its iconic food-delivery services, restaurant recommendations, table bookings and so on. With the future in mind, Goyal is possibly looking at bringing in a grocery delivery feature to the Zomato app.
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