Zomato achieves growth in core advertisement business in six countries

Gurgaon-based online restaurant discovery and food ordering platform Zomato has achieved operational break even of its businesses in six countries. The reason behind the achievement is Zomato's growth in core advertisement business and tighter financial controls.

According to a top executive, the company has achieved break even in India, the UAE, Lebanon, Qatar, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Presently catering to 23 countries, including developed countries like the US, Canada and Australia, Zomato doesn't plan to expand to new cities, but plans to start monetization from geographies.

"The biggest reason behind this is increase in revenues, which have doubled in the last four months," said Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal. Another reason is significant decrease in burn rate by bringing tighter financial controls.

Zomato, whose valuation is close to USD 1 billion, will be able to justify the unicorn status given the overall size of the advertisement market. Goyal said that Zomato expects revenue potential from India advertisement business, which accounts for 35 percent of revenues, at USD 50 million or Rs. 338 crore.

Zomato also entered into the food delivery business last year, and it is doing 13,000 orders on an average a week of Rs. 575 each. The company competes with players like Rocket Internet's Foodpanda and local startups like Swiggy and TinyOwl in the delivery business.