After establishing a stronghold in the Indian ecommerce and the cab aggregator space, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is gearing to invest between $ 200 million to $ 250 million in foodtech startup, Swiggy. With this move, SoftBank joins Flipkart and China based Tencent, in their investment bid.
Founded in 2014 by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini, Swiggy is currently active in over ten cities across the country and is partnered with over 20,000 restaurants. Swiggy reported a profit of over $ 3.6 million (Rs. 23.6 crores) for the last fiscal quarter.
According to reports, SoftBank is looking for minority shares in Swiggy in exchange for the $ 200 million to $ 250 million investment. If successful, this investment would likely take place at a pre money valuation of $ 600 million to $ 650 million.
From its inception, Swiggy raised about $154.67 million through three major rounds of investments. A spokesperson for Swiggy stated, “Swiggy garners continuous interest from investors due to our market leadership position, strong growth and financial performance. We remain focused on delivering exceptional value to consumers, and will comment on fundraises at the opportune time.”
If SoftBank goes through with the move, Swiggy and Zomato will be at loggerheads. SoftBank declined to comment and is suspiciously quiet about the issue. To stay one step ahead of the game, Swiggy launched a new Cloud Kitchen initiative to provide users with Pan Asian, Continental and Indian cuisines. With its cloud kitchen initiative called Swiggy Access, the company aims to reduce the delivery time, allow restaurants to increase their franchises and provide users with a wide array of options.
This move was made in an attempt to squash rival, Zomato’s dominance of the foodtech industry. With constant modifications and new launches, Swiggy has been working to provide maximum customer satisfaction. The company claims to complete over 400 million orders every month and claims to have completed close to 78,417 orders daily as of January 2017. This online food and services market is estimated to be worth $ 2.9 million. Through this investment round, Swiggy aims at surpassing its rival and setting itself as the most reliable and noteworthy food delivery platform.
