Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

Indian food delivery giant Swiggy is expected to raise around ₹6,500 crore ($900 million) in a fresh funding round. The round is said to value Swiggy at $2.5-3 billion, according to an Economic Times report.

The latest funding round is also expected to include a ₹2,170 crore ($300 million) secondary share sale by some of its notable backers.

The four-year-old startup will see Bessemer Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Accel Partners, and SAIF Partners sell a part of their combined 39% stake. While Swiggy’s earliest investors, RB Investments and Harmony Partners will be selling their entire 3% stake, making a complete exit.

If the reports are to be believed, Norwest Venture Partners, which invested $20 million in Swiggy since 2015, is expected to rake in $80 million, in the partial stake sale.

The secondary sale is expected to increase Nasper’s 23.3% stake in the food delivery giant to around 40%, further strengthening its position. Furthermore, China’s Tencent is expected to invest $50-100 million in the round.

Other existing investors Meituan Dianping, Coatue Management, and DST Global are also speculated to participate in the round.

The reports are yet to be confirmed by any of the involved parties.

Indian startup ecosystem is witnessing an aggressive growth of budding startups, giving its early investors an opportunity to liquidate and exit with their profits, through secondary transactions.

While investors in startups like Flipkart and Ola had to wait long, to make healthy exits, the new startups are making aggressive headways and enabling their investors to make huge profits, in a shorter period of time.

Swiggy has already raised over $300 million this year alone, spread over two funding rounds. The startup has raised $465 million, across all funding rounds, so far.

In June 2018, Swiggy raised $210 million in a round led by Naspers and DST Global.

In February 2018, the food delivery unicorn raised $100 million in a round led by Naspers.

While Swiggy has been consistently raising money, it has also burned cash at a significant pace, as it competes with Zomato, in order to grab a greater market share.

Last month, it was reported that Swiggy managed to post ₹442 crore in revenue, rising by over 200% in FY18, at the back of rising losses, incurred due to its growing rivalry with Zomato.

Earlier this month, Swiggy launched its food delivery service to 16 new cities, expanding its penetration in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

By Varun

Startups | Books | Ideas

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