Food Delivery Titan Swiggy Is Gearing For Its IPO

Indian food delivery service Swiggy raised $700 million in January this year in a Series K round led by Invesco and saw the participation of other investors such as Baron Capital Group, Sumeru Venture, Kotak, Axis Growth, Sixteenth Street Capital, Ghisallo, Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave Global, Qatar Investment Authority, IIFL AMC Late Stake Tech Fund, Smile Group, Segantii Capital and ARK Impact.

The startup is now gearing for an initial public offering set to take place by next year, according to a source familiar with the matter. The source who didn’t want to be named also mentioned that the company is looking at the first half of 2023 to make its debut and that deliberations concerning Swiggy’s IPO are already ongoing. The food delivery titan is looking to raise as much as $1 billion when it debuts.

According to this source, the company’s plans are not yet concrete and are still subject to changes subject to external factors and market conditions. The company is looking at one more funding round before its IPO, the source added.

The startup already hired JP Morgan and ICICI Securities to run its books and will hire more investment banks in the coming months, the source said.

“Our goal is to make Swiggy the platform that 100 million consumers can use 15 times a month. We will continue to invest in our people, products, and partners to create a positive impact on the ecosystem and accelerate the digital transformation in food and grocery delivery and other on-demand services,” Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and chief executive of Swiggy said in January when the startup had its Series K round.

Swiggy’s intention to have its IPO isn’t exactly new news as it has been informing investors of its plans to debut. Its biggest rival Zomato already had its IPO last year and Swiggy’s has been one that investors have been anticipating.
The company’s plan to go public may be its next big step as it has been working to improve its books and also has fully recovered from the losses induced by the pandemic.

“Since the start of the financial year, Swiggy has focused on recovery by reactivating users, increasing monthly frequency, and returning user conversion to pre-Covid-19 levels. This strategy paid off as Swiggy reactivated 128,000 restaurants on the platform (100% of pre-Covid-19 level), achieved 1.59 million orders per day, and GMV of $984m, up 69% on the comparable period. This growth reflects higher average order values compared to pre-pandemic periods and higher revenues from delivery fees and advertising sales.” Prosus Ventures shared in its financial report in November.

Swiggy, however, has other plans apart from an IPO. It is planning to make a few acquisitions and investments. The company plans on acquiring Dineout, according to news sources.