Swiggy valuation jumps to $5.5 bn

Food delivery app Swiggy has raised $1.25 billion from a clutch of investors, including SoftBank, which valued the company at $5.5 billion.

After Zomato’s successful initial public offering, private equity investors have rushed to pick up stakes in the leading food delivery app Swiggy. The funding marks SoftBank Vision Fund 2’s first investment in the Indian food delivery category.

As per reports, SoftBank alone invested $450 million in the current round. It is an investor in global food delivery startups, including DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Swiggy’s long-term investor, Prosus and existing investors, Accel Partners and Wellington Management also participated in the round. Swiggy welcomed new investors Qatar Investment Authority, Falcon Edge Capital, Amansa Capital, Goldman Sachs, Think Investments and Carmignac.

The company has been valued around $5.5 billion in this round of funding. In the previous round last year, the company was valued around $3.6 billion. The jump in valuation comes on the back of Swiggy’s rapid recovery from the impacts of Covid19 and subsequent growth in 2020-21.

Further, rival Zomato’s valuation of around $8.6

billion for its recent IPO, also has increased interest in Swiggy.

This investment will accelerate Swiggy’s multiyear strategy of growing its core food delivery business and building new food and non-food adjacencies in 2021 and beyond. To support this, Swiggy will enhance its capabilities in technology and artificial intelligence, and strengthen teams across engineering, product, data science and analytics as well as in business and supply chain for its newer initiatives.

The company has been launching multiple services in the past few years. This includes instant grocery

delivery service, Instamart. Pick-up and drop service, Swiggy Genie, has expanded to 65 cities and the company has deepened the presence of its meat delivery service in key markets. It also operates a daily grocery delivery service, Supr Daily.

“I believe the next 10-15 years offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for companies like Swiggy as the Indian middle-class expands and our target segment for convenience grows to 500 million users,” said Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy.

Swiggy has raised a total of $2.67 billion till date.