India is a country where food holds a very special place in the hearts of the people. This is why the food industry in India has always been very big and the person who was able to capitalise on this market was Deepinder Goyal. Deepinder founded Zomato and started delivering individual’s favourite dishes to their doorsteps. During the pandemic when every restaurant was closed to the public, food delivery platforms saw a boom. Even though people couldn’t go outside their houses, the food they loved was being delivered to their doorsteps. A lot of new players got introduced during the pandemic but Zomato is the one that prevailed. In this blog, we will tell you how Deepinder Goyal made Zomato and turned it into a billion-dollar company. This is Deepinder Goyal Success Story, the founder and CEO of Zomato.
Early Life Of Deepinder Goyal
Deepinder Goyal was born on January 26, 1983, to a middle-class family in Muktsar, Punjab where he lived with his parents and elder brother. His father and mother, both were from the e-education sector. While father was a botany teacher, his mother was an English teacher.
Deepinder went to a local school in his hometown of Muktsar, Punjab. He wasn’t a bright student in his school days, infact he was a below-average student who had trouble even passing exams. In an interview, he once said that during an exam in 8th standard he knew nothing but a teacher helped him with answers and he got 3rd rank in the class. After being ranked 3rd in his class, his teachers and parents started appreciating him and this motivated him to study which helped him to get good grades.
Deepinder Goyal’s Education And First Job
Despite the challenges he faced during his schooling period, Deepinder Goyal made to crack the joint entrance exam for IIT. He went to Delhi to pursue a bachelor’s degree in engineering and this is the first stage where the Deepinder Goyal success story starts.
He graduated in 2005, later in January 2006, he joined a business management consultant company in Gurgaon ‘Bain and Company’.
Initially, he intended to work with the company for 1 year but ended up working there for 3 years.
The Story of Zomato
While working at Bain and Company, Deepinder noticed that people used to stand in lines to order their food and delivery of food was a very bad process, as there wasn’t any assurance as to how good the food would be. This is when Deepinder Goyal success story really started when he with his colleague Pankaj Chaddah, started Foodiebay.com, a website that ranks restaurants based on their food and service.
Later in 2010, to avoid any potential naming conflict with eBay, he changed the name of his company to Zomato. Zomato also received its first investor check of $1 million in 2010 from InfoEdge’s Sanjeev Bikhchandani.
Zomato got many good remarks over the years which only made Deepinder expand his business in international markets like UAE, United Kingdom, Philippines, Qatar, Sri Lanka and many more. Then in 2015, Zomato acquired a Seattle-based company called UrbanSpoon which led to Zomato’s entry into the USA. Deepinder Goyal success story took a turn later that year when Zomato started delivering food in India with a collaboration with Delhivery. After this many investors started taking notice of Zomato and a few investors jumped on the opportunity and provided Zomato with the necessary investments allowing Deepinder to expand Zomato even further. In 2017 Zomato introduced a paid membership called ‘Zomato Gold’ which allowed its subscribers to order food without any delivery fees and on additional discounts.
During the lockdown, food delivery was at its peak, but another thing that was rising in demand was grocery delivery. So Zomato started delivering groceries and other essentials under the service name of ‘Zomato Market’ which catered its services to more than 80 cities throughout India. Then, in 2021 Zomato went public with its IPO being opened at a valuation of $8 Billion. This made Zomato one of the biggest online food delivery companies in India. In 2022, Zomato bought a 16.6% share in a kitchen tech company called Mukunda for $5 million.
In 2019 Zomato acquired a non-profit organisation called ‘Feeding India’ and in 2022 it had claimed to feed over 200,000 people under their program. On the Eve of New Year 2023, Zomato received a record-breaking number of orders. As per Zomato, it received more than 4,100 orders per minute, 4 of which were delivered by Deepinder himself.
Funding Received By Zomato
Deepinder Goyal success story would be incomplete without help from investors. Zomato received a total of $2.2 Billion in funding over 22 rounds from a total of 54 investors. The First Investor that Zomato ever had was Sanjeev Bikhchandani who proved to be a great investor as he received a 33% stake in the company for $1 million and now that 33% is worth $2.6 billion.
Deepinder Goyal’s Net Worth
Deepinder started with nothing and now after 17 years, his net worth is $306 million. He started with an idea and built it into a $8 billion business. The majority of his net worth comes from the Zomato shares he holds.
Things to Learn from Deepinder Goyal
1- No matter what the circumstances are, Stay positive. Deepinder Goyal Success story was not without its ups and downs. There was a time when restaurant owners started delisting their restaurants on Zomato citing discounts on dine-in, but Deepinder didn’t lose hope and kept a positive attitude and admitted that he made a mistake. He then asked all the restaurant owners to list their restaurants on Zomato again.
2- Embrace the appreciation you receive- If it wasn’t for his 8th class teacher, there might not be a Deepinder Goyal success story. His teacher helped him and showed him that if you embrace the appreciation you receive, it motivates you to achieve great things in life.
Zomato Now
Deepinder Goyal success story is not yet over as he is still writing his story as the CEO of Zomato. Today Zomato has a valuation of $8.9 billion. The company has earned many awards, mainly the User’s Choice Award, showing customer satisfaction.
Final Thoughts
Deepinder Goyal Success Story shows us that with determination and hard work, one can achieve anything one aims for. Starting from nothing to creating the biggest food delivery service in India, Deepinder Goyal has come a long way. We all should learn from Deepinder Goyal success story.
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