Zomato acquires New Zealand's restaurant discovery service, Menumania

After Flipkart, Zomato is the new poster boy for startups from India. The restaurant search and discovery service has raised more than $50 million and information for over 232,900 restaurants across 12 countries. Today, the company has acquired Menumania.co.nz, a popular New Zealand-based restaurant discovery service for an undisclosed amount.

Zomato has been aggressively expanding its global presence with launches in Europe and Southeast Asia in the past six months, while also working to strengthen its presence in existing markets. This acquisition is a strategic move

to establish Zomato’s presence in the Pacific. This is Zomato's first acquisition globally. Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO added "This acquisition is the first of more to come, in our mission to be the dominant player in this space across the globe."

Menumania was founded in 2006 by Cristian Rosescu, who was later joined by his wife Karen Gibson. The company has been one of the most prominent players in New Zealand in Tech, and has been around for almost 8 years. “It's going to be an exciting next few months to integrate MenuMania with Zomato. We will be able to combine our local knowledge about the market, with the technology Zomato brings to the table," says Cristian Rosescu, Founder & CEO, MenuMania. Zomato launched its services in Auckland and Wellington in July last year, and extended its services to Hamilton in December 2013. The current set of restaurant reviews on Menumania will be put through the Zomato review quality filters to ensure consistency in quality and authenticity and the Menumania website will eventually migrate to Zomato.co.nz to maintain a single identity.

"We are thrilled to welcome Menumania to Zomato. Together, Zomato and Menumania will be the largest resource of restaurant information in New Zealand, and I am sure both our users will love the integrated product once it rolls out over the next few weeks," says says Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato. The company has been growing rapidly and has always remained in the news. Most recently, the social campaign for hiring didn't go down too well with the audience. Zomato also underwent a massive overhaul to increase engagement among foodies and results of this will now be trickling in (the compulsory social login was removed immediately in few days after it was brought into play). This particular acquisition news doesn't come up as a surprise because the pace at which Zomato is expanding internationally and the funding it has raised till now, it makes sense to acquire players outside India as they would have an existing user base and stronger local knowledge. We can expect to hear a few more announcements (also read "is Zomato's valuation is justified").

Website: Zomato