Restaurant search app Zomato acquires Urbanspoon to enter the U.S. market

Zomato, a Sequoia Capital-backed restaurant search service, is acquiring Urbanspoon from its current owner, IAC.

The two companies help people search for and discover restaurants and eateries based on search criteria such as location, food type, and even mood. Though Zomato has a large international presence, its acquisition of Urbanspoon marks its entrance into the U.S. market. The acquisition is pegged at above $50 million, all cash.

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Founded in 2008, Zomato has built a large directory of restaurants (similarly to Yelp), using local residents to gather and provide information such as photos, scans of menus, and more. The acquisition brings Zomato’s total presence to 22 countries, and its database to more than 1 million restaurants. It’s raised a total of $113 million in funding.

Urbanspoon, which IAC acquired in 2009 at undisclosed terms, gained popularity as a fun mobile app that provides restaurant recommendations based on the person’s current location and mood. It has a “shaking” feature that pulls up a new recommendation when users shake their phones.