Zomato's first overseas market ended as Talabat switched UAE delivery to its own app

Zomato is India's food-delivery and restaurant-discovery platform; its UAE business at one point accounted for 20% of its orders.

That India's foodtech winner could profitably run delivery as far as the Gulf — the bet ended with its first overseas foray sold, then switched off for Talabat.

UAE was Zomato's first global foray in 2012 and at one point accounted for 20% of its orders. In 2019 Talabat, the Kuwait-based delivery app, bought Zomato's UAE food-delivery business for $172M.

Since the sale, Zomato rendered services to Talabat in return for cost reimbursement. The wind-down email promised restaurants money owed, unused advertising spend and credit notes credited by 30 December 2022; Talabat said it would launch Zomato Pay and its 'Vibe Check' feature on its own app.

From 24 November 2022 Zomato discontinued rendering delivery services in the UAE; customers ordering on the Zomato app are redirected to Talabat. Zomato keeps restaurant discovery and dining-out there, with Zomato Pay live across 12 cities in India and the UAE.

UAE delivery was already sold in 2019; ending the cost-reimbursement service deal is the final write-off of an expansion once worth 20% of orders.

The exit lands amid widening losses at home — Q2 FY23 loss up 35% sequentially to INR 250.8 crore.

Zomato keeps discovery, dining-out and payments while Talabat absorbs the operationally heavy delivery layer.

International retreats end in stages: sell the market, service the buyer, then hand over the last remnant — each step salvages cash and focus for the core war at home.

As of the November 2022 filing, UAE customers were being redirected to Talabat and restaurants reimbursed by end-December; Zomato's focus stayed on India, where Zomato Pay was live in 12 cities.