SUMMARY
Since I was on the board of Urban Company, I thought it was the right thing for me to step away given we were exploring this space: Zomato CEO
Deepinder Goyal had been appointed to Urban Company’s board on March 15 last year and he stepped down from his post on February 15 this year
Reports of Blinkit looking to enter the at-home and handyman services segment first broke early in March this year
In a note to shareholders on Friday (May 19), zomato
CEO Deepinder Goyal said that his move to exit the board of Urban Company was right as the foodtech company is looking to enter the at-home services space via its quick commerce vertical Blinkit.
“Since I was on the board of Urban Company, I thought it was the right thing for me to step away given we were exploring this space. If at all we end up competing with Urban Company at a large scale, we know we are up against a formidable team and a very high-quality business,” said Goyal.
To recap, Goyal had been appointed to the Accel-backed startup’s board on March 15 last year only to step down from his post on February 15 this year.
At the same time, Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa said that while the company was exploring the at-home delivery services space including services such as electricians, plumbers and so on, there was no big decision yet at their end so far.
“At Zomato, we run multiple small experiments to find ways in which local economies can benefit from technology, which makes products and services more accessible for customers. Home services is one such experiment where we are exploring whether we can make our neighbourhood services like electricians, plumbers, etc. more accessible to customers,” said Dhindsa, adding, “At this point, this is not a big decision at our end. We will keep you updated on the progress here, if any.”
Reports of Blinkit fence-sitting the at-home services segment first broke early in March this year, when it was reported that the quick commerce startup was looking at providing handyman services.
According to reports, Blinkit’s handyman services will include plumbing and AC repair as well as finding an electrician on its platform. It was further reported that Blinkit has already set up a team to launch the hyperlocal services platform.
Blinkit is not the only startup looking to enter the at-home services segment, competing with Urban Company. Last year, media reports suggested that Flipkart was planning to enter the segment as well. It then planned to add other services besides AC cleaning and repair services.
Further, security management startup Mygate also launched the service on its own. However, after Urban Company and Acko co-led an INR 100 Cr funding round in the startup, Mygate started hosting the former’s offerings on its app.
On Friday, Zomato posted results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. The listed foodtech’s net loss narrowed 48% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 187.6 Cr in Q4 FY23. The startup also saw its operating revenue jump 70% YoY to INR 2,056 Cr.
