Zomato, an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company, on Friday scripted history by making a strong stock market debut with its shares.
The company with a 66% jump in the share price pushed the Zomato’s fortune to the $1 billion mark. Launched in 2010, the company is owned by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, and its headquarter is in Gurgaoan, India.
Goyal is worth $650 million based on his current 4.7% stake in Zomato which would double if he chooses to exercise his 368 million options vested over the next six years.
The Zomato owners are now among the ultrarich startup entrepreneurs like Byju Raveendran of ed-tech company Byju’s, Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Verma.
In a letter to stakeholders, Goyal wrote: “We are going to relentlessly focus on 10 years out and beyond, and are not going to alter our course for short term profits at the cost of long term success of the company.”
“The tremendous response to our IPO gives us the confidence that the world is full of investors who appreciate the magnitude of investments we are making, and take a long term view of our business,” he added. The company expanded in 100 cities across 19 countries and now the impressive debut at the stock market has given hopes to other food startups and also presented an opportunity for retail investors. “I don’t know whether we will succeed or fail – we will surely, like always, give it our best. But I hope that the fact that we are here, inspires millions of Indians to dream bigger than we ever have, and build something way more incredible than what we can dream of,” wrote Goyal.
