Zomato Acquires Urbanspoon
Road Trips Foodies often check apps to find new places to eat, especially while on the move.
Zomato, the restaurant search app, has acquired Urbanspoon for an undisclosed amount in an all-cash deal. The acquisition marks Zomato’s entry into the United States and Australia.
The deal to acquire the global restaurant search brand will also boost Zomato’s presence in the United Kingdom alongside Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Despite having only entered the UK market 18 months ago, Zomato’s ambitious organic and inorganic expansion strategy has seen them attract more than 1.5 times the traffic of SquareMeal, an established brand with 20 years in the UK market.
This is Zomato’s sixth acquisition in the past six months; a further $20 million investment is projected for the European market in the next year, with the UK forming the hub of Zomato’s European expansion.
Following the acquisition, Zomato will be present in 22 countries across the world. Its restaurant coverage will increase from about 300,000 restaurants to more than 1 million restaurants across the globe.
Zomato’s traffic will more than double from about 35 million visits per months to more than 80 million visits per month, probably making it one of the largest restaurant search services in the world.
All Urbanspoon traffic will move to Zomato.com, and all Urbanspoon app users will be able to use the Zomato app.
This is Zomato’s sixth acquisition in the last six months, and the biggest one. Zomato has recently acquired local dominant restaurant search players in New Zealand, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Italy.
