From Srinagar to a global stage: kashmir-born Gatoes joins Qashier in landmark restaurant tech acquisition. ANI 13 Aug 2026, 23:28 GMT+ Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) [India], August 13: In a moment being hailed as a defining milestone for Jammu & Kashmir's startup ecosystem, homegrown restaurant technology platform Gatoes has been acquired by Qashier, a global leader in point-of-sale and restaurant management solutions. The deal marks one of the most significant startup exits to emerge from the region and underscores the growing global relevance of tech ventures built outside India's traditional startup hubs. Founded by Jibran Gulzar, a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia honoree, Gatoes set out to solve a problem familiar to restaurant owners everywhere: how to grow online orders without being squeezed by steep marketplace commissions. In a market long dominated by discount-driven aggregators, Gatoes took a different route - building a SaaS-style infrastructure model that gave restaurants more control over pricing, margins, and their relationship with customers. Built for Restaurants, Not Just on Top of Them Rather than positioning itself as another delivery marketplace, Gatoes built a full-stack merchant enablement platform - combining order management, digital customer reach, and marketing tools into one system tailored to independent restaurants. The philosophy was simple: help restaurants own their digital growth instead of renting it from an aggregator. That approach resonated. At its peak, Gatoes had: * Onboarded 3,000+ restaurant partners * Built a customer base of over 2.2 million users * Facilitated millions of digital orders * Created employment for 400+ people across Kashmir, spanning delivery, operations, and merchant support roles The traction wasn't slow to arrive either. Within its first seven months - as a fully bootstrapped venture - Gatoes had already crossed $1 million in total order value and onboarded over 1,450 merchants, quickly making it one of the most talked-about startups to come out of Jammu & Kashmir. Along the way, the company drew backing from private and angel investors, including individuals behind billion-dollar companies - an early signal of confidence in both the model and the market opportunity. Winning Without Playing the Discount Game Competing against giants like Swiggy and Zomato is not for the faint-hearted, and Gatoes made a deliberate choice early on: it would not chase customers through subsidy wars. Instead, it doubled down on restaurant economics - helping merchants protect margins and build direct customer relationships, even in one of India's most fiercely contested consumer internet categories. Why Qashier, Why Now The acquisition brings Gatoes' ordering infrastructure into Qashier's broader restaurant management ecosystem - a platform already trusted by restaurants across multiple global markets for POS and operations technology. Industry watchers see this as part of a wider pattern: restaurant tech providers are moving beyond point-of-sale systems to build unified platforms spanning ordering, payments, logistics, and customer engagement. For Qashier, integrating Gatoes strengthens its digital ordering and merchant enablement capabilities; for the sector at large, it's another sign of consolidation as restaurants everywhere shift decisively online. Reflecting on the journey, Gulzar said: 'Building Gatoes taught us how complex restaurant commerce has become in the digital era. From logistics to merchant economics, operating in this space requires balancing technology, operations, and customer behavior'. He adds, 'Our goal from the beginning was to give restaurants technology that allowed them to participate in online ordering without sacrificing their margins. The experience of building and scaling Gatoes has been incredibly valuable and will directly shape the next generation of products and ventures we build.' A Signal Moment for Kashmir's Startup Story Beyond the deal itself, the acquisition carries symbolic weight for a region still emerging on India's startup map. It's proof that founders building outside conventional tech hubs can create products with genuine strategic value - and that Kashmir-born ventures are capable of competing, and winning attention, on a national and global stage. As digital ordering continues its steady march across India's restaurant industry, deals like this point to where the sector is headed: fewer standalone tools, more integrated platforms - and increasingly, homegrown innovation finding its way into global consolidation stories. Gulzar, for his part, is expected to stay in the build seat, carrying forward the lessons from Gatoes into his next ventures in technology and digital infrastructure. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same.)

Adnan Siddiqui promoted to Legal Counsel at Zomato. Adnan Siddiqui has been promoted to Legal Counsel at Zomato, where he will continue to work within the legal function of the Eternal Group. Based in Gurugram, Siddiqui specialises in dispute management, contract curation, compliances and crisis management, with experience in handling diverse legal and business challenges. Siddiqui joined Zomato in October 2023 as Legal Associate and was promoted to Senior Legal Associate in January 2025. In July 2026, he took on the role of Legal Counsel, marking his progression within the organisation. In his current role, Siddiqui oversees the Disputes and Legal Recovery vertical at the Eternal Group. His work combines legal expertise with business strategy, including managing high-stakes litigation, advising on risks associated with new business initiatives and supporting business enablement. Prior to joining Zomato, Siddiqui worked as Senior Legal Executive at Awfis Space Solutions Private Limited from December 2022 to October 2023. Before that, he was associated with Zenith Law Chambers as Legal Associate from July 2019 to December 2022, where he worked on civil and criminal litigation, writ petitions, IBC applications, recovery matters, commercial disputes, consumer matters, intellectual property, legal opinions, legal notices and various regulatory proceedings. Siddiqui began his legal career with an internship at Athena Legal in 2018, where he gained exposure to intellectual property law and dispute resolution. He holds an LLM in Corporate & Finance Law from Jindal Global Law School, completed in 2022, and a BBA LL.B (Hons.) with specialisation in Intellectual Property Laws from Amity University, completed in 2019. Commenting on his promotion, Adnan Siddiqui said, "Very happy to share that I've been promoted to Legal Counsel at Zomato!Grateful for this recognition and for the journey so far, the learnings, the people who've supported me along the way, and the experience of navigating through very diverse legal and business challenges, each bringing its own lessons and opportunities to grow.Looking forward to the challenges ahead." His promotion reflects his continued growth within Zomato and his expanding role in supporting the organisation across complex disputes, legal recovery, risk management and business-facing legal matters. Zomato's mission statement is "better food for more people." Since its inception in 2010, Legal Media Group has grown tremendously, both in scope and scale - and emerged as India's most trusted brand during the pandemic, along with being one of the largest hyperlocal delivery networks in the country. Have a news update or deal to publish? Looking to collaborate on content, columns, or articles? Get in touch with the Legal Era News Network Team at [email protected] or call Legal Media Group on +91 8879634922.

What is Profound? Ex-Swiggy, Zomato executives partner for AI hiring platform startup. Profound aims to shift the hiring landscape, starting with artificial intelligence-powered voice assistants that will replace static resumes Published: August 04, 2026 04:43 PM IST Highlights. * Profound has secured $1.5 million in seed funding and aims to onboard one million professionals within twelve months * The startup uses personalized, voice-activated AI representatives to replace static resumes * Currently, the company is allowing users through an invite-only early-access programme Former vice-president of Swiggy, Anuj Rath and ex-Chief Technology Officer at Zomato, Prashant Parashar, have soft-launched an Artificial Intelligence startup called Profound. Profound, as a startup, uses personalised, voice-activated AI representatives to replace static resumes. Unlike other recruiting websites, it uses artificial intelligence to build an understanding of an individual's experience, working style, decision-making skills, aspirations and expertise. For each individual, the AI representative will continuously identify relevant career opportunities and recommend valuable connections, with customisation as the Unique Selling Point (USP) of the service. "That richer understanding of a professional enables significantly better matches, shifting professional discovery from keyword-based search to intelligence-driven matchmaking," co-founder Prashant Parashar told media. AI representatives can also be created by employers. Instead of making conventional job descriptions, this will allow them to describe roles directly through natural conversations. Organisational context will also become easier to convey, including details such as team culture and work style. According to reports, it will enable artificial intelligence-powered matchmaking that will evaluate the compatibility between candidates and employers. In the long run, the company's vision is to enable an ecosystem without human interference where AI representatives interact with one another. Currently, the company is allowing users through an invite-only early-access programme. A broader launch is planned later this year. As a first step, Profound will hire engineering and product development professionals. The startup plans to onboard around one million professionals over the next twelve months. It also aims to have an artificial intelligence team. The company said it raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round. Participants included Swiggy co-founders Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy, Zomato co-founder Pankaj Chaddah and Razorpay Chief Executive Officer Harshil Mathur. The global head for WhatsApp, Kunal Shah, and co-founder of OfBusiness were the other investors. The investors believe that hiring is rapidly becoming AI-driven, and that a startup focused on introducing a layer between the professionals, recruiters, and employers can be profitable. Disclaimer: Comments posted here are the sole responsibility of the user and do not reflect the views of THE WEEK. Obscene or offensive remarks against any person, religion, community or nation are punishable under IT rules and may invite legal action.