Leaving Urban Company board was right since we are exploring something similar: Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal

“Since I 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. 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,” Goyal said in a note to shareholders.

Goyal ceased to be a director with effect from February 15. He was appointed to its board on March 15 last year.

Zomato’s chief financial officer Akshant Goyal said while there is no ‘big decision’ right now related to their foray into the at-home services industry, they are exploring their options.

“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. Home services is one such experiment where we are exploring whether we can make our neighbourhood services like electricians, plumbers, etc. more accessible to customers,” Goyal said in the note. “At this point, this is not a big decision at our end. We will keep you updated on the progress here, if any.”

At-home services segment

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If Blinkit enters the at-home services segment, it will join several other startups trying to compete with Accel-backed Urban Company. ET was the first to report on May 24 last year that Flipkart was planning to enter the segment. The Walmart-backed ecommerce player has since scaled up the service.Security management startup Mygate, which had launched the service on its own, later started hosting Urban Company’s offerings on its app after insurance provider Acko and Urban Company co-led a Rs 100 crore funding round in the startup.

ET reported on April 6 last year that Tata Digital was also looking to enter the at-home services space. Over the last two years, several companies have been attempting to dent Urban Company’s dominance in a sector that saw several players fail to find traction and survive a funding slowdown in 2016-17.