Zomato Co-Founder Deepinder Goyal Joins India's Elite Billionaire Club

Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and CEO of Zomato, has now joined the elite club of billionaires in India. The surge in his net worth is attributed to the 4.2% stake he owns in Zomato, with the company's shares having grown over 300% in the past two years.

The 41-year-old Goyal, an alumnus of IIT Delhi where he studied Mathematics and Computing, holds approximately 36.95 crore shares in Zomato. On Monday, Zomato's stock surged over 4% to a fresh all-time high of Rs 232, driven by an increase in platform fees. The stock's market capitalisation also crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore mark. Goyal’s stake in the company is now valued at about Rs 8,400 crore, making him a billionaire in US dollar terms.

Zomato, once dismissed as a loss-making startup burning cash from venture capitalists, has undergone a significant turnaround. The company reported its first-ever profit of Rs 2 crore in Q1 of FY24.

Additionally, Zomato's quick commerce arm, Blinkit, turned adjusted EBITDA positive in March. In Q4 of FY24, Zomato delivered a consolidated net profit of Rs 175 crore, prompting brokerages to raise their target prices. Analysts have been impressed by Blinkit's performance, with its gross order value (GOV) growing by 13.7% QoQ, driven by a 17% QoQ increase in orders, though offset by a 3% QoQ decline in average order value (AOV). The announcement to increase the number of dark stores to 1,000 by the end of FY25 from 525 in Q4 has reset expectations and positioning within the quick commerce sector for Blinkit.

Goyal's journey into the startup world began when he was a management consultant with Bain & Company. He noticed how employees would line up in the pantry every day to look for menus to order food, which inspired him to start Foodiebay.com, which later became Zomato.

Goyal recently revealed that when he started Zomato 16 years ago, his father, coming from a small town in Punjab, doubted his ability to succeed due to their humble background. Reflecting on his father's skepticism, Goyal shared that his father told him, "Jaanta hain tera baap kaun hain," expressing doubt that Goyal could pull off a startup.

Today, Goyal's success with Zomato stands as a testament to his vision and perseverance, marking a remarkable journey from a humble background to becoming one of India's newest billionaires.

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