Swiggy has closed a $1.25 billion round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Prosus Capital. Other participating investors included Accel Partners, Wellington Management, Qatar Investment Authority, Falcon Edge Capital, Amansa Capital, Goldman Sachs, Think Investments and Carmignac.
Despite raising $800 million in April, the company has topped the round with an additional $450 million. It’s the first investment SoftBank has made in India’s foodtech industry. The Japanese investor received approval from the Competition Commission of India to invest in a foodtech platform last week.
“Our biggest investments will be in our non-food businesses that have witnessed tremendous consumer love and growth in a short span, especially in the past 15 months of the pandemic,” said Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy.
Avendus Capital served as Swiggy’s financial advisor in the transaction.
Following the reshuffle of Swiggy’s top management, this announcement comes as a surprise. Earlier this month, Vivek Sunder, the chief operating officer of the company, handed in his resignation. Following his resignation, Swiggy also elevated Phani Kishan to co-founder.
In addition to its core business, Swiggy has also launched various services, including an instant grocery delivery service, Instamart, a pick-up and drop service, Swiggy Genie, and a daily grocery delivery service, Supr Daily. Supr Daily is present in major cities, while Swiggy Genies has recently expanded to 65 cities nationwide.
During various parts of the country’s coronavirus lockdown, food delivery companies were severely impacted. Government relaxations revived the segment, however. Swiggy connects consumers to more than 1,50,000 restaurant partners and stores in more than 500 cities.
SoftBank also held talks with Zomato about investing, but these talks stalled for unknown reasons. Having SoftBank on its side is a validation of Swiggy’s leadership position in the segment. The company competes with Zomato, which recently entered the public market.
SoftBank, which announced that the total investment through Vision Fund 2 in India could go up to $4 billion by the end of this year, had recently invested in Flipkart. As of the beginning of this year, it has backed Meesho, Zeta and Whatfix, and is reportedly in talks with e-commerce platform OfBusiness and edtech unicorn Unacademy for their upcoming funding rounds.
