Brands
Zomato acquires Uber India’s food delivery business
MUMBAI: Online food delivery app Zomato has acquired Uber’s food delivery business, Uber Eats, in India in an all-stock deal. According to media reports, the acquisition was carried out at a value of $350 million ( Rs 2,485 crore). Moreover, Uber has got almost 10 per cent stake in Zomato.
Post acquisition, Uber Eats in India will discontinue operations and direct restaurants, delivery partners, and users of the Uber Eats apps will migrate to the Zomato platform, effective Tuesday.
“We are proud to have pioneered restaurant discovery and to have created a leading food delivery business across more than 500 cities in India. This acquisition significantly strengthens our position in the category,” Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said.
“Our Uber Eats team in India has achieved an incredible amount over the last two years, and I couldn’t be prouder of their ingenuity and dedication, ” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said. He added Uber will continue to invest in growing its local rides business.
Through this deal, Uber Eats India users now become Zomato users. Similarly, the delivery partners who were earlier associated with Uber Eats India will be on-boarded on Zomato’s fleet. The first big consolidation in online food delivery segment will pull Zomato ahead of Swiggy.
The acquisition comes after Zomato’s latest fundraising led by existing investor Ant Financial, an Alibaba affiliate, which pumped in $150 million at a $3 billion valuation.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
