The Co-Founder and CEO of Swiggy says the business is “the strongest it has ever been.”

Swiggy, the punchy online food delivery platform delivering food to India’s hungry middle class, has raised $800 million from global alternative asset manager Falcon Edge Capital, Singapore-based fund management firm Amansa Capital and US-based private investment firm, Think Capital. Other participants in the oversubscribed round included French asset management firm Carmignac, Goldman Sachs, Prosus and Accel. (MoneyControl)

The round values Swiggy at $5 billion. Previously, Swiggy raised $158 million from Prosus in February 2020 at a valuation of about $3.7 billion.

Strong post-pandemic performance

“Over the last one year, thanks to all your efforts, we’ve managed to drive a strong recovery in the food delivery business with a very clear path to profitability,” co-founder and CEO, Sriharsha Majety said in an email to employees. “The food delivery business is the strongest it has ever been, and we are now well on our way to drive continued growth over the next decade.”

The funding has come at an opportune moment. Swiggy’s Arch rival Zomato is likely to float an IPO in the coming months though it is not clear whether it will list the same in the U.S. or India. According to the Economic Times, the size of Zomato’s IPO could be in the range of around $750 million to $1 billion.

Echoing these sentiments, Majety wrote: “This fundraise gives us a lot more firepower than the planned investments for our current business lines. Given our unfiltered ambition though, we will continue to seed/experiment new offerings for the future that may be ready for investment later.”

The company has recently made a foray into deliveries of groceries through its Instamart brand.

Target: Half a million users

“The next 10-15 years offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for companies like Swiggy as the Indian middle class expands and our target segment for convenience grows to 500 million users over this period,” Majety said.

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