This is the restaurant search app’s sixth acquisition in the last six months, and is estimated to be around US$50 million to US$60 million
Indian restaurant search app Zomato today announced that it has acquired Seattle-based Urbanspoon for an undisclosed amount in an all-cash deal. The acquisition marks its entry into the United States.
This also establishes Zomato’s presence in Australia and Canada, with Urbanspoon being popular there, while adding to its position in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato said, “Our US entry has been on the cards for a while now, and we’re delighted to be doing so by welcoming Urbanspoon into Zomato. They have a strong presence in the US and the UK, and they also dominate restaurant search in Australia and Canada. We will soon be integrating the two products to bring the best of both products to our users in the United States as well as the rest of the world.”
This is Zomato’s sixth acquisition in the last six months, and the biggest one. Though the size of the deal is undisclosed, but it is pegged at around US$50 million to US$60 million. Goyal said in his blog post that the firm spent most of its last round of funding on this acquisition.
Zomato has recently acquired local dominant restaurant search players in New Zealand, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy.
Also Read: US$3.25M: Zomato’s lunch bill in Czech Republic and Slovakia
The teams will be working closely over the coming months to integrate Urbanspoon into Zomato. In due course of time, all Urbanspoon traffic will move to Zomato.com, and all Urbanspoon app users will be able to use the Zomato app.
“Another challenge — usually our biggest — is going to be finding a bunch of people as crazy as we are to drive our operations in the US, Canada and Australia. We’re very fortunate to be welcoming the Urbanspoon team into Zomato, which will be immensely valuable as we grow the forces in each of these countries,” Goyal added.
Zomato will face tough competition from Yelp, which dominates this space and lists business ranging from restaurants to beauty salons and spas. This service is similar to JustDial in India.
“Zomato has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years, and our customer bases complement each other’s perfectly,” said Keela Robison, CEO, Urbanspoon.
“Its significant investments in people and technology will bring Urbanspoon customers, restaurant owners, and food bloggers a number of new capabilities and features. We’re excited to combine our strengths to accelerate growth,” added Robison.
After the acquisition, Zomato will be present in 22 countries. The firm claims that the restaurant coverage will increase from about 300,000 restaurants to more than one million restaurants across the globe, and its traffic will more than double from about 35 million visits per months to more than 80 million.
Image Credits: bezikus/ Shutterstock
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