Prosus leads $113m Series I for Swiggy

Existing investors Meituan Dianping and Wellington Management also took part, according to a statement. Naspers led a $1 billion Series H round toward the end of 2018. Other investors include Coatue Management, DST Global, Hillhouse Capital, Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Harmony Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and SAIF Partners.

The Series I brings total capital committed to the start-up to $1.59 billion, according to AVCJ Research. The latest funding comes about a month after Zomato, a rival start-up backed by Ant Financial, acquired Uber India’s food delivery arm in an all-stock deal.

Founded in 2014, Swiggy is considered the market leader in the Indian food delivery ecosystem, although Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal has challenged this following the Uber acquisition. Neither company is profitable yet but both have publicly stated they expect to reach that stage by the end of the year.

Swiggy plans to use the capital to add more convenience-enhancing solutions. It will also leverage a new partnership whereby independent ice cream pushcart operators supplied by food conglomerate Hindustan Unilever will be listed on the Swiggy delivery platform.

“Swiggy has built a solid leadership position in India and is utilizing its strong logistics network and consumer loyalty to expand its offering to services that continue to make consumers lives more convenient. We are confident Swiggy will continue on a path to earn a significant place in the daily lives of Indians,” said Larry Illg, CEO at Prosus, in the statement.

Swiggy claims to have a 160,000-strong restaurant base. As of October, Zomato claimed to have 150,000 restaurant partners. Both firms earn revenue by commissions on orders, service fees for low-value transactions, rental of cloud kitchens to restaurants, higher prices during peak hours, paid membership programs, and selling branded food items.

Over the last year, Swiggy has also added on-demand courier services and monthly meal plans. Last year, it also acquired Kint.io, an object recognition start-up, and invested in Fingerlix, a food service start-up offering ready-to-cook dishes.  

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Expansion
• Technology
• TMT
• India
• Meituan-Dianping
• Naspers
• Prosus Ventures