Zomato acquires food tech startup TongueStun

Online food ordering firm Zomato just added another helping to its plate: The Gurugram-based company has acquired corporate catering marketplace TongueStun Food in a deal that media reports pegged at $18 million.

Bengaluru-based startup TongueStun says it is the biggest player in the corporate cafeteria sector with a presence in six cities (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, and Gurgaon/Noida). It caters to more than 1,500 companies, including IBM, Accenture, E&Y, Sony, Genpact, 3M, Mindtree, and Deloitte.

"We see immense growth opportunity in the food at the workspace, and with the help of TongueStun, we hope we’re able to delight our users at their workplaces as well. This market is very high frequency, and customers are very sticky as they end up placing more than 20 orders a month on the TongueStun platform," said the Zomato spokesperson.

This is Zomato's second acquisition in the last one year: In September 2017, it acquired hyperlocal logistics startup Runnr. Currently, Alibaba-backed Zomato operates across 34 cities and is competing with Swiggy, which also recently acquired Mumbai-based food startup Scootsy and is reportedly in talks to raise another round of funding from Tencent.

Food tech companies are booming in India because of a growing appetite for convenient food among young professionals. The food-tech industry grew over 15% In 2017. It is expected to touch at least $2.5 billion by 2021 from around $700 million, according to a report by consultancy firm RedSeer Management.