'Exploring with home services segment, up against formidable Urban Company'

NEW DELHI: Top Zomato leadership on Friday said that home services is one big market they are exploring to enter and make neighbourhood services like electricians, plumbers, etc. more accessible to customers.

However, according to Deepinder Goyal, Zomato Founder and CEO, "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".

Blinkit Founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa said in the company's Q2 FY23 shareholders' letter that 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" and "home services is one such experiment".

However, entering the home services segment "is not a big decision at our end".

"We will keep you updated on the progress here, if any," he noted.

Goyal added that since he 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".

They reacted to earlier reports of Zomato aiming to enter the domain of providing home services similar to Urban Company.

Hyperlocal services platform Urban Company's consolidated net loss more than doubled to Rs 514 crore in the financial year 2021-22, from Rs 249.2 crore in FY21.

Its expenses almost doubled to Rs 1,023.3 crore in FY22 from Rs 539 crore in FY21.