Deepinder Goyal Success Story: India's Newest Billionaire

The food delivery segment in India has witnessed an unprecedented surge. Late-night cravings, urgent home delivery, etc., have now become the norm. Despite being a huge potential market in India at present, only 2-3 brands dominate this industry, and Zomato is one of them.

Zomato is an Indian restaurant aggregator which delivers food in almost every Indian city. Zomato provides a complete reference for a restaurant. Right from menus to reviews, it covers all the aspects centered around a restaurant. Now, the question in your mind would be who found this brilliant startup to curb all your midnight cravings - it was founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah.

Zomato is gradually building on its global presence. They have acquired about 15 startups in different countries, including foreign competitors, to increase their foothold in other countries. In 2014, Zomato acquired Gastronauci, Poland’s restaurant search service, and Cibando, an Italian restaurant finder. They made their biggest acquisition in 2022 by acquiring India-based Blinkit (formerly Grofers) for an estimated $560 million in an all-stock deal.

Initially named as Foodiebay when it began in 2008, the venture was later renamed as Zomato in 2010.

Deepinder Goyal Biography

Let us look at Deepinder Goyal's Success Story, education, personal life, controversies, and history, whose current net worth is $1 billion.

Deepinder Goyal - Personal Life
Deepinder Goyal - Education
Deepinder Goyal - The Idea of Zomato
Deepinder Goyal - Zomato's Growth
Deepinder Goyal - Struggle
Deepinder Goyal - Raising funds for Zomato
Deepinder Goyal - The Dream Flight
Deepinder Goyal - Continue
Deepinder Goyal - Success Story: An Inspiration
Deepinder Goyal - Shark Tank India
Deepinder Goyal - Controversies
Deepinder Goyal - Investments

Deepinder Goyal - Personal Life

Deepinder Goyal was born into a humble family in Muktsar, Punjab on 26 January 1983. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal has recently married Mexican model-turned-entrepreneur Grecia Munoz. Reports indicate that the couple tied the knot a few months ago. This is Deepinder Goyal’s second marriage; he was previously married to his IIT-Delhi batchmate, Kanchan Joshi.

Deepinder Goyal - Education

Hailing from a middle-class family, Deepinder Goyal had a modest upbringing. After completing his graduation from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in 2005 in Mathematics and Computing, his interest in food was encouraged to conceive a venture that would help people have their lunch, breakfast, and dinner through the convenience of an app.

Deepinder Goyal - The Idea of Zomato

Ordering food from home wasn’t easy initially. To order food online, one had to choose from multiple restaurants without any information about the reviews and ratings. Discounts and offers on dining and food delivery were almost non-existent.

After graduating from IIT Delhi, Deepinder joined Bain and Company as a Senior Associate Consultant in January 2006. During his tenure with Bain, he founded FoodieBay.com, which later became Zomato.com. The idea of FoodieBay.com was his eureka moment. At Bain and Company, everyone had to stand in long queues to place their order. Deepinder and his colleague at Bain, Pankaj, came up with a creative solution to save the time they spent ordering food.

It was then the duo decided to create a website for food ordering for Bain employees using the company intranet. To their surprise, the website was a hit and received heavy traffic. The Zomato founders saw an opportunity that could revolutionize the food tech industry.

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Deepinder Goyal - Zomato's Growth

Deepinder’s idea kickstarted a new era. Neither he nor his colleagues thought that their idea would give rise to one of the most popular food aggregation brands.

After their experiment and the response they got from it, they were forced to add more restaurants to the list. By the end of the year, FoodieBay.com was introduced in mega-cities like Kolkata and Mumbai. In the year 2010, their startup started serving customers in Pune and Bangalore.

Deepinder Goyal recently joined India's billionaire club following a surge of over 300 percent in Zomato shares since last year, reaching a market cap of INR 1.8 lakh crore, according to Moneycontrol. At 41, Goyal has also become India's richest professional manager, with a net worth exceeding INR 8,300 crore.

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Deepinder Goyal - Struggle

Deepinder's initial hurdle came from his family, who were reluctant to leave his stable job at the firm and join the startup journey and lifestyle. Deepinder's wife, Kanchan Joshi, whom he met at IIT, was reluctant initially but later supported his new lifestyle completely. After establishing the startup in big cities, the Zomato owner hired Gunjan Patidar, another IITian, to assist the team in Operations. He had a hectic time running FoodieBay.com since the concept was unique and unknown to people at that time, and difficulties were inevitable. He had to face numerous entrepreneurial problems to convert his hard work into success. During the first two years, they ran the website without any hurdles but found it difficult to scale as more and more restaurants and pubs were being covered under Zomato. It was also a difficult time for them due to dwindling financial resources and trouble in securing funding.

Deepinder Goyal - Raising funds for Zomato

When the Zomato team desperately needed funding, Info Edge came to its rescue. In August 2011, Info Edge invested $1 million in FoodieBay.com, which was when Deepinder and his team changed the company's name to Zomato.com. The funding was a morale booster that prompted Deepinder and Pankaj to quit their jobs at Bain and Company and dedicate all their time towards the growth of Zomato.

After this, the food delivery and ordering trend took India by storm, turning the tide for Zomato. Since their initial funding in 2011, they've gone on to be funded by several investors and achieved the status of a unicorn in 2018. They ended 2020 by closing a $660 million primary financing round at a post-money valuation of $3.9 billion.

With rapid developments in the technology sector, Zomato modified its ways and launched its applications in iOS, Android, and Windows. Increasing popularity gave way to expansion in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad.

After expansion, Zomato collaborated with Citibank, which was named “Citibank Zomato Restaurant Guide.”

The company is now publicly traded. On July 23, 2021, the shares were listed on the BSE and NSE. Its IPO price range was INR 72 to INR 76 per share. The market capitalization of Zomato is $2322.99 billion (as of November 2024). It is the 832th most valuable company in the world based on market value.

Deepinder Goyal - The Dream Flight

Under Zomato CEO Deepinder's guidance, the company expanded its operations in countries such as Dubai, UAE, Sri Lanka, Qatar, the United Kingdom, South Africa, the Philippines, and New Zealand.

During FY 2011-2012, Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd. reported revenues worth INR 2.04 crores, which ballooned to INR 11.38 crores during the financial year 2012-2013.

Zomato had around 2.5 million visitors on its website in March 2012. This increased exponentially to 62.5 million during 2014. Their revenues surged too, INR 30.06 crore generated in 2012 as revenue increased to INR 96.7 crore in 2015. Zomato recorded a growth rate of 68.9% in its gross revenue, reaching INR 7,079 crores in FY23.

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Deepinder Goyal - Continue

Zomato co-founder and CEO, Deepinder Goyal, has launched a new health and wellness startup called ‘Continue,’ on 21st October 2024. This venture is focused on health tracking and mental wellness. The website, Continue.com, is still in a secretive "stealth mode," so not many details are available yet. The company, called Upslope Advisors Pvt Ltd, was registered in April 20. Deepinder Goyal is a Director, and two Zomato employees, Akriti Mehta and Simrandeep Singh, are listed as Additional Directors, based on information from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This is Deepinder Goyal's personal venture at this point.

Update on Continue

Been getting a lot of curious messages since the morning, so here's an update on Continue.

It is as of now, my personal health and wellness team, entirely funded by me, which tracks and researches how to keep me running at my peak performance.

Spending…

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 21, 2024

Deepinder Goyal - Success Story: An Inspiration

Deepinder has shown how to grow a business by setting up examples for his co-workers. Working for 24 hours is never a cakewalk, especially when there’s pressure from parents upon leaving a well-settled job. Under his guidance, Zomato has received multiple awards, mostly user’s choice - which proves customer satisfaction. At the age of 31, Deepinder Goyal, the founder of Zomato, won the Economic Times Startup of the Year. Rising from the lowest moments of despair and distress to revolutionizing an entire segment is no simple feat. That’s what Deepinder Goyal has achieved. A millennial cannot imagine life without Zomato—Deepinder has taken his venture to enviable heights!

Deepinder Goyal - Shark Tank India

Deepinder Goyal was one of the new sharks on Shark Tank India season 3. At the age of 40, he became an inspiration to young people and has chosen to impart his knowledge to aspiring entrepreneurs. He joined Ritesh Agarwal, the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, Azhar Iqubal, the co-founder and CEO of Inshorts, and the returning sharks Aman Gupta, Anupam Mittal, Namita Thapar, Vineeta Singh, and Peyush Bansal on the panel.

The Zomato founder invested in unique and scalable firms in Shark Tank India season 3. He was particularly interested in businesses that were challenging the status quo and had the ability to make a significant difference in people's lives. Goyal's addition to the panel of sharks was indeed more exciting and informative.

Deepinder Goyal wrote this on his social media:

As per reports, the food delivery platform and Zomato's competitor, Swiggy is close to finalizing a deal to sponsor the fourth season of Shark Tank India season 4. Swiggy has requested that Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal not return as an investor, according to Goyal. This decision highlights the growing competition between the two food delivery companies.

“I unfortunately can't go back because Swiggy sponsored Shark Tank this time and kicked me out,” Goyal said at the ET Startup Awards 2024 on 5th October, 2024.

“Apparently, that's what I heard. They (Swiggy) said that this is the sponsorship, and DP (Deepinder Goyal) can't be on the show,” he added.

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Deepinder Goyal - Controversies

Deepinder Goyal started a debate on 20th November 2024 by offering a Chief of Staff job with a strange condition. In this job, the applicants must pay INR 20 lakh to get the job, and there will be no salary at first. Goyal said this Chief of Staff job will give 10 times more learning than a two-year course at a top business school. Another benefit is working closely with him and some of the smartest people in consumer tech.

Update: I am looking for a chief of staff for myself. pic.twitter.com/R4XPp3CefJ

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) November 20, 2024

The job post got mixed reactions on social media. Many users said it is unfair to talented people from less wealthy backgrounds who can’t pay INR 20 lakh upfront or cover their basic needs for a year.

A day after this controversial Chief of Staff job post, Goyal said on 21st November 2024 that they got over 18,000 applications. He explained that the INR 20 lakh fee was just a way to filter candidates and wouldn’t actually be charged.

Deepinder Goyal - Investments

Deepinder Goyal has made 21 investments. His most recent investment was in Lyskraft's seed round on April 24, 2024, and Mave Health's pre-seed round where the company raised ₹220 crore (approximately $27 million) and ₹6 crore (approximately $731K) respectively.

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FAQs

Which Indian Engineer and Entrepreneur Is the Co-founder of Zomato?

Deepinder Goyal is the Co-founder & CEO of Zomato.

How much is Deepinder Goyal's Net Worth?

The net worth of Deepinder Goyal is $1.7 billion as of October 2024.

What is Deepinder Goyal's Education?

Deepinder Goyal graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, with a degree in Mathematics and Computing.

What is Deepinder Goyal age?

Deepinder Goyal is 41 years old. He was born on 26 January 1983.

What is Deepinder Goyal's salary?

Deepinder Goyal, the CEO of Zomato, has waived his annual salary of INR 3.5 crore for the period from April 2021 to March 2026, as disclosed in Zomato's QIP documents in November 2024.