SWIGGY
Kint.io: Acqui-hired founders to enhance its artificial intelligence capabilities
Maverix: Maverix sells ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook food through the cloud kitchen model.
Fingerlix: Serves pre-cooked and frozen food through the cloud kitchen model.
Scootsy: Premium food delivery service.
Supr Daily: Delivers daily consumables.
48East: Acqui-hired management team of Asian food startup.
ZOMATO
UberEats India: Only the brand was acquired, the workforce was laid off.
Feeding India: Non-profit company that is working towards the aim of eradicating hunger, malnutrition and food wastage.
TechEagle: Works exclusively on drones.
TongueStun: E-marketplace of Caterers for office cafeteria and also provides Cafeteria management solutions.
Runnr: B2B app developer for Hyperlocal logistics services.
Loyal Hospitality: Into Shadow Kitchen business.
Tinmen: Cloud kitchen startup providing home-cooked meal to office goers.
Spare Labs: Founder Pankaj Batra was retained in Zomato’s tech team.
MapleGraph: Cloud based software solution for Menu and Inventory management.
Observations on Zomato & Swiggy’s M&A strategy
Evidently Zomato is much more active in M&A vis-à-vis Swiggy. Apart from its domestic take overs, it has acquired multiple startups in almost all the countries that it is located in.
Inorganic growth gives an advantage of quicker and a more mature growth-path and at the same time, it also cuts future competition. However, it often leads to a loss of control as a sudden change in culture and strategy is not always well received by the existing human resources.
An important characteristic observed through Zomato’s acquisitions is that it usually retains the leadership of the acquired startup, reflecting their strong belief in human capital.
This article is a part of the July'20 edition of our Startup Newsletter. Here's the complete publication:
