Despite those layoffs and the overall sceptic environment about India’s current crop of food delivery startups, looks like investors somehow still see promise in this sector. As a result, Swiggy, the online food delivery startup based out of Bangalore, is looking to gulp in a massive $40Mn in a Series C round, report ET.
It is being said that the company is in talks with its existing investors which includes Accel Partners, SAIF Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and DST Partner Fund for the fundraising exercise. Swiggy — courtesy those investors — is looking to raise funds at a valuation of over $100 million. But, it is not yet clear whether the company was able to convince the investors of its sought valuation or not.
The news about such high investment in Swiggy comes at a time when most investors are really not eager to invest in these delivery and ordering services due to various factors. Over-crowded market, high operating costs and slow growth are some of the major ones. As a result of that scepticism, few of the companies have already shut shops while the rest are laying-off employees in order to cut costs.
Swiggy started its operations in August 2014. It was founded by Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy, along with ex-Myntra developer Rahul Jaimini. Earlier, the company had raised $16.5 million in Series B round of funding. Prior to that, it had received $2 million in Series A round from SAIF Partners and Accel.
The company claims that its current average delivery time per order is about 37 minutes. As per the company’s founder, Swiggy is piloting Swiggy Express, where the company works with gourmet caterers and chefs to curate certain set of pre-cooked meals and will be delivered in close to 15 minutes.
Swiggy has been coming up with many new solutions and partnerships to boost revenues and differentiate itself from the rest. A couple of weeks before, it announced to set up cloud kitchens, which serves the purpose of preparing food for incoming orders, with no dine-in facilities. Recently, it also announced partnership with BurgerKing and will take care of their logistics for all 23 outlets in India.
We’ve mailed Swiggy regarding this, and will update the story if we receive an update.
