Zomato has brought back two senior executives, who had left the company last year, and asked them to incubate new ideas for its going-out business, the vertical where Paytm’s movie ticketing and events business may eventually reside if deal talks between the two Indian unicorns fructify.
Sources confirmed that Rahul Ganjoo, who was head of new businesses when he quit, after being the chief executive officer of food delivery and head of product management, and Pradyot Ghate, who was a vice-president when he left, were back in the fold.
“Both of them are pursuing 0-1 ideas in the going-out business… which is closer to dining out, lifestyle and entertainment than the core food delivery segment. But, things change very quickly in Zomato. There’s no guarantee that what they are working on will eventually be launched,” said a person closely associated with the company.
Ganjoo quit Zomato in January 2023 after a stint of five years and six months and Ghate had quit in July 2023 after nine years and 10 months, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Zomato did not respond to a request for comments on the matter till the time of publishing.
New focus
The company’s interest in ramping up the going-out business became apparent in June as it confirmed that it was in talks to acquire fintech major Paytm’s movie ticketing and events arm in a deal that may be worth between Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 2,000 crore.
The company's going-out business enables discovery and ticketing of offline experiences such as in-restaurant dining and live events such as Zomaland. In the March quarter (Q4 FY24), the segment's gross order value grew 207 percent to Rs 1,069 crore on-year, adjusted revenue doubled to Rs 93 crore, but profitability declined.
According to experts, the acquisition could help Zomato make a big splash in the movie ticketing and events business through an integrated loyalty programme, finding a way to cross-sell its food offerings, and creating better discovery of entertainment options for users.
It is no secret that the high-growth phase of food delivery has run its course. That is one of the major reasons Zomato and Swiggy are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the quick commerce business. As such, making a bold bet on the going-out business may help Zomato drive up its revenue growth in the long-term.
People leave Zomato, but Zomato never leaves them
After a string of top deck executives left the company in late 2022 and early 2023, Zomato founder and chief executive officer Deepinder Goyal said, “Company building is not just about the journey of the business. It is also so much about its people’s personal journeys. Both these journeys take their own twists and turns. And sometimes, for some people, the distance between their form (their mindset and skill set) and the company’s context becomes such that it is necessary to take a break from each other."
“I attempt to stay true to a culture where I expect every individual, including me, to continuously learn and grow, improve upon their form, and adapt to the changing context. Also, without hope, but not hopelessly, I think that most of our people who have exited haven’t really left. People leave their roles at Zomato, but Zomato never leaves them.”
Goyal claimed that several senior leaders are in their second or third stint at the company. “They did that once the company’s context changed, or when they changed their form. Sometimes, both. All of this works for us wonderfully. The entropy our people create in the organisation by leaving and then coming back is fantastic, to say the least, and propels the organisation forward.”
Some of those who had quit at the time have struck out on their own as entrepreneurs.
Mohit Gupta, who had been elevated as a co-founder in Zomato, has started omnichannel lifestyle brand Lyskraft and raised $26 million in a seed round led by Peak XV.
Gaurav Gupta, another high-profile executive who too was promoted as co-founder, has founded a healthtech startup called Gabit with a seed funding of $9.5 million from Norwest Venture Partners and angel investors like Amazon senior vice-president Amit Agarwal and Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal.
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