#HTE
Indian food delivery startup Swiggy has bagged an additional $43 million as it looks to expand to new businesses.
Ark Impact, Korea Investment Partners, Samsung Ventures and Mirae Asset Capital Markets provided the capital to finance Swiggy’s ongoing Series I round. In February, the Bangalore-based startup had raised $113 million as part of the current round. The new round, which makes Swiggy’s total raise-to-date to $2 billion, values it at $3.75 billion, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
The announcement follows Swiggy’s expansion to grocery category last week. The startup, which is operational in 520 cities, is offering grocery in limited quantity in select cities as the nation grapples with a lockdown that has disrupted several businesses, including food-delivery.
A Swiggy executive said the company, which raised $1 billion in December 2018, is looking to build a “sustainable path to profitability.”
In a statement, Rahul Bothra, CFO at Swiggy, said the company has “built a sustainable food delivery business over the years while solving various customer pain points. As we continue to strengthen and expand our services that offer unparalleled convenience to our consumers, we are humbled by the faith shown by our investors year-on-year and welcome the new investors on board. Our focus remains to execute on our vision while building a sustainable path to profitability.”
Swiggy’s rival, Zomato, has also picked up capital in recent months. In January, the 11-year-old firm raised $150 million from Ant Financial. The company’s top executive said then that it was close to raising another $450 million in a matter of few days. The company has raised an additional $5 million since and a spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Both the firms have seen the volume of their orders drop from more than 5 million to under a million in recent days.
The exit of Uber from India’s food delivery space has, however, made the market a duopoly play. At stake is a $4.2 billion opportunity, according to research firm Redseer. But Zomato, which raised $150 million earlier this year, and Swiggy have alone picked up more than $2.1 billion from the market already.
More to follow…
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/06/indias-swiggy-raises-43m-to-expand-to-new-businesses/