Zomato users shall now be able to have their customer service questions answered in real time. The company has introduced an in-app chat feature that will help users resolve their queries and complaints about Zomato’s service.
Chennai has been hit by record levels of rainfall over the last few days. The rains have left thousands of people stranded, shut down offices and businesses, and 188 lives have been lost. But amidst the gloom, there’s some hope. Indian startups are going out of their way to help Chennai’s stricken populance in any way they can. Here are some Indian startups that have pitched in to help with the Chennai floods.
Zomato’s table booking system is all set to launch globally. Zomato Book, which had been undergoing trials in India, will now be available across 12 markets – Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, UK, Ireland, Chile, South Africa, Czech, Slovakia, Turkey, Italy and Poland.
Zomato has been blacklisted from conducting placements at all IITs this year. “No company should take the IIT system for granted,” said the placements head at one of the top IITs. At least six IITs Delhi, Bombay, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati and Kanpur confirmed the blacklisting.
Sanjiv Bikhchandani, Chairman of Info Edge which owns 47% of Zomato, has justified Zomato’s layoffs saying that the funding environment for startups is changing.
A year ago, the food tech sector was booming. Funds were plentiful, investors were upbeat, and a new company seemed to be coming up every minute. Cut to a year later, and things aren’t quite so rosy. There have been murmurs of overvalued companies, and investors are being more circumspect with their cash. One sector that has been particularly hard hit is the food tech industry.
Zomato’s deal with hyper-local delivery company Pickingo appears to be in trouble. Two months ago, the company had announced an investment in Gurgaon-based Pickingo, which would’ve seen Zomato own a 10% stake in Pickingo. But the plans appears to be on hold after recent developments, reported Economic Times.
All’s not well at Zomato. Weeks after the company had announced that it was laying off 10% of its workforce in an apparent restructuring, it has emerged that for the first time in 5 years, the company is falling short of its sales targets. And Deepinder Goyal, the 32 year CEO, is not pleased.
Trouble is brewing in the food tech industry. After food delivery TinyOwl fired xxx employees, and food delivery app Dazo shut down last week, and Zomato has now annouced that it will be laying off 300 employees, or 10% of its workforce.