Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Swiggy enters unicorn club after $210 million fundraise

BIZ STRATEGY Startup plans to use funds to ramp up supplychai­n network, expand to new markets

- Anirban Sen feedback@livemint.com

BENGALURU: Swiggy raised $210 million from a group of investors, catapultin­g India’s largest food delivery service provider into a select club of unicorns with a valuation of $1 billion or more.

The latest fundraisin­g, led by Naspers and billionair­e Yuri Milner’s DST Global, values Swiggy at roughly $1.3 billion, surpassing rival Zomato’s $1.1 billion valuation based on a February fundraisin­g round. China’s MeituanDia­nping has also invested in the latest funding round, along with new investor Coatue Management.

Swiggy, founded in August 2014, is one of the fastest entrants into the unicorn club. The latest fund-raising will add pressure on Zomato to raise additional funds quickly to keep pace with its Bengaluru-based rival in the online food-delivery business.

reported on April 2 that Vehicle manufactur­ers to be allowed to import the units of a particular model without local certificat­ion

The certificat­ion of these vehicles The plan may also help can be done at the country of manufactur­ers who sell limited origin as automotive homologati­on number of premium and in India takes time specialize­d vehicles Zomato was in talks to raise $200400 million.

Swiggy, which has emerged as the breakout consumer internet startup of the past five years, has easily been the most prolific food delivery start-up in terms of its ability to continue raising funds from deep-pocketed foreign investors.

It has raised about $465 million till date, according to research. Barely four months ago, Swiggy raised $100 million from South African media giant Naspers.

Swiggy, which is by far India’s best-funded food delivery startup, plans to use the funds to ramp up its supply-chain network and expand to new markets, the company said in a statement.

“With this investment, we will continue to widen Swiggy’s offerings, along with bolstering our capabiliti­es and plugging the gaps in the on-demand delivery ecosystem,” said Sriharsha Majety, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Swiggy.

Swiggy, which operates in 15 cities i ncluding Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata, claims to have more than 35,000 restaurant partners on its platform and a delivery fleet of over 40,000.

Founded by Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini, Swiggy is one of the few consumer internet start-ups from 2014 that is thriving and consistent­ly chased by large global investors.

Many smaller peers have either been shut down or sold in distress deals.

Some others, such as Grofers, are struggling to attract new investors and have been unable to find a sustainabl­e long-term business model. 2015

2016 2017

2018 Swiggy is one of the fastest entrants into the unicorn club The company has raised The latest fundraise around since values the food delivery it started out in August 2014 start-up at

Swiggy’s valuation now surpasses rival Zomato’s (based on a February fundraisin­g)

Zomato is also currently in talks to raise at least

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