Zomato acquires Urbanspoon in the US to take on Yelp on its own turf

In a reversal of roles, Indian tech startup Zomato has acquired American company Urbanspoon. This is a rarity because we are more used to hearing about American tech biggies looking to gobble up Indian startups.

Zomato’s restaurant finder app has been going global rapidly. This is its sixth international acquisition, and the biggest one, although the amount involved in the all-cash deal was not disclosed. Zomato had earlier acquired leading restaurant search players in New Zealand, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Italy.

Zomato entered Canada on its own three months back with a US$10 million purse. This was seen to be a stepping stone to the US to do battle with its larger rival Yelp on its own turf.

Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato, says:

Our US entry has been on the cards for a while now, and we’re delighted to be doing so by welcoming Urbanspoon into Zomato. They have a strong presence in the US and the UK, and they also dominate restaurant search in Australia and Canada. We will soon be integrating the two products to bring the best of both to our users in the US as well as the rest of the world.

Zomato’s approach of hiring people to curate and constantly update restaurant listings and menus will present a challenge to Yelp and Foursquare, which rely more on user-generated reviews. This involves a lot of legwork but pays off for Zomato as users are less likely to encounter an outdated menu or a restaurant that has no resemblance to its review.

Keela Robison, CEO of Urbanspoon, says:

Zomato’s significant investments in people and technology will bring Urbanspoon customers, restaurant owners, and food bloggers a number of new capabilities and features. We’re excited to combine our strengths to accelerate growth.

With the acquisition of Urbanspoon, Zomato now has a presence in 22 countries, in many of which it is already the leading player. It is a role model for other internet startups in India wanting to capture global markets.

See: Fresh $60 million pie feeds Zomato’s hunger for global expansion