Online food delivery aggregator Swiggy has raised USD 800 million in its latest Series J round of financing with Falcon Edge Capital, Amansa Capital, Think Investments, Carmignac and Goldman Sachs joining as new investors
The latest fundraise gives Swiggy the much-needed firepower to take on Gurugram-based rival Zomato, which has also raised more than USD 900 million at a valuation of USD 5.4 billion in the last two rounds and aims to launch its IPO around June 2021.
The fundraise will leapfrog Swiggy’s valuation to more than USD 4.9 billion from its previous ascribed valuation of USD 3.6 billion in 2020.
In an internal email memo sent by company founder Sriharsha Majety to employees, he wrote, ““The fundraise was also very heavily oversubscribed given the very positive investor sentiment towards Swiggy. This fundraise gives us a lot more firepower than the planned investment for our current business lines. Given our unfettered ambition though, we will continue to seed/experiment new offerings for the future that may be ready for investment later. We will just need to now relentlessly invent and execute over the next few years to build an enduring iconic company out of India.”
In February 2020, the online food startup closed its previous funding round at a valuation of about USD 3.7 billion, when it raised USD 158 million led by its largest investor Prosus Ventures.
“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 500M (million) users over the period. Even globally, now everyone acknowledges the TAM (total addressable market) for the food delivery category and how it is still very, very early in India,” he informed.
The fresh fundraising comes at a time when Zomato is planning for a USD 750 million- USD 1 billion IPO later this year.
“We’re coming out of a very hard phase during the last year given Covid and have weathered the storm, but everything we do from here on needs to maximise the chances of our succeeding in the long-term,” wrote Majety.