Jibran Gulzar planned to move to London in 2019 to do his master’s degree.

On August 3 that year, he arrived in his hometown of Srinagar to renew his passport before applying for a visa. Little did he know that he would be stuck there for a year, miss his chance to go to London, and end up founding a food delivery app that works despite limited internet connectivity in a region notorious for government-imposed internet shutdowns.

Gulzar is the founder and CEO of Gatoes, the largest restaurant discovery and food delivery app in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, a region that has been at the centre of one of the world’s most dangerous territorial disputes between India, Pakistan and China for seventy years.

Gatoes pioneered food delivery in the mountainous and remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir and has managed to maintain its position even as larger competitors like Swiggy and Zomato entered the scene. This year, the company is expanding beyond its home territory: it has already launched services in the neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh and Leh and plans to enter Delhi, Haryana and Punjab soon.

“When (Gatoes) launched, there were very few startups in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Irtif Lone, a former senior executive at the state-run Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute. Rest of the world. “They founded a startup company that quickly became the go-to place for restaurants looking for a delivery service.”

On August 5, 2019, two days after Gulzar came to Srinagar to renew his passport, the Indian government withdrew Article 370, a law that gave Jammu and Kashmir residents special rights regarding land, jobs and residency. A curfew was imposed in the region and the internet was shut down to avoid backlash against the decision. The curfew was lifted after about a month, but restrictions on movement remained in place for much longer. Jammu and Kashmir had no internet service until December 2019—the longest such lockdown in a democracy up to that point. In January 2020, 2G internet services were partially allowed.

Stuck at home with nothing to do, Gulzar started thinking about what to do next and that’s when he came up with the idea for Gatoes.

“I had given up hope of getting my passport and was thinking about different ideas to stay active,” he said Rest of the world“I was depressed at home. I needed something to get out of it and the idea of ​​founding Gatoes became a hope.”

When the lockdown was relaxed, Gulzar left Kashmir and travelled to Chandigarh and Delhi to discuss the idea with several software developers.

“Keeping the internet disruption in mind, we developed an app that works perfectly at 2G internet speed,” said Gulzar. “As I had no money, a lot of negotiations were necessary, but we managed to develop the app in a few months.”

In early 2020, Gulzar borrowed money from a friend and bought the domain name. In July of the same year, he hired his schoolmate Danish Majeed as Gatoes’ first employee.

The app was launched in August 2020 with only two delivery drivers.

“Initially, I had 100,000 rupees ($1,190) which I gave directly to the developers. Once the revenue came, we put it into marketing,” Gulzar said. “We continued to use the money (we earned) to develop the app and did not take the salary for the first few months.”

In early 2021, when 4G internet services resumed in Jammu and Kashmir, Gatoes quickly expanded to several towns – and hilly, remote areas – such as Bandipora, Rajouri, Handwara, Kathua and Kupwara, Gulzar said.

This is the first time that an app-based food delivery service has been available in these locations, Lone said.

In May 2021, Gatoes became the first startup from Jammu and Kashmir to reach $1 million in gross merchandise value. Since then, the number has more than doubled, Gulzar said, without revealing the exact figure.

According to Majeed, now the company’s chief financial officer, Gatoes delivers to more than 45,000 customers every month. The app receives around 1,600 orders daily and lists over 1,200 restaurants and cafes in Jammu and Kashmir. The company works with more than 200 delivery workers in the region and employs 50 full-time employees.

“We are currently seeing 35% revenue growth,” said Majeed Rest of the worldGatoes is also working on a separate delivery app that can run offline, he said.

Raising money in a conflict-torn region is a big challenge, Gulzar said. In addition to its initial investment, Gatoes was funded by an angel investor whose identity the company declined to disclose. “Now we mainly receive money from a Kashmiri living abroad. He was kind enough to mentor us and help us financially,” Gulzar said.

Building an app-based business in a region with extremely limited connectivity also means that founders have to take a lot of ownership of their business.

Just last month, Majeed received a call on his personal mobile phone from a man in his 60s from Srinagar’s Nishat area. He asked Majeed how to order his favourite shawarma from Gatoes. “I walked him through the entire process on the phone. I helped him download the app from the (Google) Play Store and then instructed him until he placed the order,” Majeed said. The conversation lasted nearly 30 minutes. “He told me I had helped him like a son and given me many blessings.

As the internet in Jammu and Kashmir has stabilized over the last two years, more food delivery services have entered the region. Swiggy launched its services in the region in 2022 and Zomato followed in 2023.

But Gatoes has managed to stay ahead due to its availability in smaller towns and cities, Majeed said.

“We were afraid that we would go bankrupt soon, but the people of Kashmir supported us,” he said. “When they entered the market, more people started to notice us. So that helped us.” He said the increased competition had led his team to “develop more strategies, monitor their approach and figure out how Gatoes could differentiate itself from the competition.”

Swiggy is currently available in Srinagar, Baramulla and Sopore, said Peerzada Uzair, the company’s fleet operations manager. Rest of the world. The company works with over 600 restaurants in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

According to Zomato’s app, it is currently available in six cities in Jammu and Kashmir. The company did not respond to a request for comment from Rest of the world.

“When Gatoes started, they were the only food delivery startup in Jammu and Kashmir. That was the right time to enter the market. But with Swiggy and Zomato, it will not be easy for Gatoes to expand,” said Lone..

Gatoes is now gearing up to compete with the two giants in other markets. In January, the company launched its services in Himachal Pradesh and five months later in Leh. According to Gulzar, the company is also in the process of expanding to Delhi, Punjab and Haryana in northern India by mid-2025.

“Gatoes should have expanded earlier, but it’s good that they are doing it now,” said Lone. “It is commendable that they are now taking up the challenge of challenging Swiggy and Zomato in other states. From what I know, I have seen a lot of resilience in their team. Staying in the market for four years despite significant competition is a remarkable achievement.”