Zomato’s co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal has become a billionaire after Zomato shares surged over 300% since last year, reaching a current market cap of ₹1.8 lakh crore, Moneycontrol reported. Goyal, 41, is now India’s richest professional manager with his net worth surpassing ₹8,300 crore.
Who is Deepinder Goyal and How Was Zomato Founded?
Deepinder Goyal, who comes from a middle-class background, co-founded Zomato in 2008, initially calling it ‘Foodiebay.’ He started the company with Pankaj Chaddah while they were both analysts at Bain & Company. Both Goyal and Chaddah are graduates of IIT Delhi, with Goyal specializing in Mathematics and Computing.
Foodiebay quickly became the largest restaurant directory in Delhi-NCR within nine months and was renamed Zomato two years later. The company attracted investments from Info Edge India, Sequoia, Vy Capital, Singapore-based Temasek, and Alibaba’s Ant Financial.
Zomato became a unicorn in the financial year 2018-19 after a $200 million investment from Ant Financial. That same year, Pankaj Chaddah left the company. Today, Goyal holds 3.95 crore shares in Zomato, representing a 4.24% stake in the company, which also owns quick commerce giant Blinkit.
Why Has Zomato’s Share Price Grown So Much?
The significant rise of Blinkit has been a major factor in Zomato’s share price rally. According to Moneycontrol, a recent Goldman Sachs note highlighted that Blinkit now has a higher implied value than Zomato’s core food delivery business. Blinkit is currently valued at $13 billion. Zomato acquired Blinkit in 2022 for $568 million, having already owned about 10% of the company since the year before. Blinkit is now growing faster than competitors like Swiggy’s Instamart and Zepto.
Zomato’s share prices hit an all-time high of ₹232 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company announced a platform fee hike of ₹6 per order in markets like Delhi and Bangalore, as reported by the Economic Times. As of July 15 at 11:45 A.M, Zomato shares are trading at ₹227.75, a 2.38% growth from the previous day.