Swiggy

Swiggy is an Indian online food ordering and delivery platform. Founded in 2014, Swiggy is headquartered in Bangalore and operates in more than 580 Indian cities, as of July 2023. Besides food delivery, the platform also provides on-demand grocery deliveries under the name Instamart, and a same-day package delivery service called Swiggy Genie.

It rivals homegrown startup Zomato in food delivery and hyperlocal marketplace.

History
In 2011, Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy designed an e-commerce website called Bundl to facilitate courier service and shipping within India. Bundl was halted in 2014 and rebranded to enter the food delivery market. Majety and Reddy approached Rahul Jaimini, formerly with Myntra, and founded Swiggy in August 2014.

By 2015, Swiggy expanded its food delivery operations from just Bangalore to eight Tier 1 cities across India. At the time, the food delivery sector was in turmoil as several notable startups, such as Foodpanda (later acquired by Ola Cabs), TinyOwl (later acquired by Zomato) and Ola Cafe (later closed) were struggling.

In January 2017, Swiggy started its cloud kitchen chain called "The Bowl Company". In November 2017, Swiggy started a kitchen incubator business called Swiggy Access, opening a network of ready-to-occupy kitchens for its restaurant partners. By 2019, over 1,000 Swiggy Access kitchens were operational, according to a TechCrunch report.

In mid-2018, Swiggy was operational in 16 Indian cities, which increased to 500 cities in 2019, matching the scale of rival Zomato.

In early 2019, Swiggy expanded into general product deliveries under the name Swiggy Stores, sourcing items from local stores. In September 2019, Swiggy launched the instant pickup/dropoff service Swiggy Go, allowing customers to send document or parcel deliveries. In April 2020, it rebranded Swiggy Go as Swiggy Genie. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it began doorstep delivery of alcohol in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

In May 2020, Swiggy laid off 1,100 employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic also resulted in the shut down of more than three-fourths of its cloud kitchens.

In August 2020, Swiggy launched its instant grocery delivery service called Instamart using a network of dark stores. In early 2021, the company closed Swiggy Stores and expanded its operations under Instamart.

In 2023, it sold Swiggy Access kitchens to Kitchens@ in a share-swap deal.

In January 2024, Swiggy laid off 400 employees, or 6% of its workforce, ahead of IPO.

In April 2024, Swiggy converted itself into a public limited company and confidentially filed for an initial public offering.

Funding
In 2015, Swiggy received a $2 million investment from Accel and SAIF Partners, along with additional investment from Norwest Venture Partners. The following year, it raised $15 million from both previous and new investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Harmony Partners.

In 2017, Naspers led an $80 million funding round into Swiggy. In February 2018, Swiggy raised $100 million from Naspers and Meituan-Dianping. By September 2018, Swiggy was valued at around $3.3 billion, and in April 2020, Swiggy was valued at around $3.6 billion.

In July 2021, Swiggy raised $1.25 billion from SoftBank, Prosus, and other investors, at a valuation of $5.5 billion.

In January 2022, Swiggy's valuation rose to $10.7 billion after a $700-million fundraise led by US asset manager Invesco.

Acquisitions

 * In 2018, Swiggy acquired Mumbai-based Scootsy Logistics, a high-end food and essentials delivery service, and ultimately merged the company's operations into itself in 2020. In 2022, Scootsy launched private label products retailed on Swiggy Instamart.
 * In September 2018, it acquired Mumbai-based milk delivery startup SuprDaily. In 2023, SuprDaily was rebranded as InsanelyGood, which was repositioned as a grocery delivery service.
 * In 2022, Swiggy acquired the dining and table reservation platform Dineout from Times Internet in an all-stock deal valued at $120 million.
 * In 2023, Swiggy acquired retail distribution company LYNK Logistics from the Ramco Group.

Acqui-hires

 * In 2017, Swiggy acqui-hired Bangalore-based Asian food start-up 48East.
 * In 2019, the company acqui-hired the artificial intelligence startup Kint.io.

Other investments

 * In 2019, Swiggy, invested ₹31 crore in Mumbai-based ready-to-eat food brand Fingerlix.
 * In 2022, Swiggy led a $180 million Series D investment round in bike taxi company Rapido.

Partnerships
Swiggy has partnered with Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and many others to provide delivery services. It has also partnered with Google Local Guide to facilitate customer reviews, and with Sodexo to let customers pay through meal cards. Swiggy launched a digital wallet, Swiggy Money, in partnership with ICICI Bank, an Indian private sector bank. In January 2022, Swiggy and drone company ANRA Technologies began trialing drone deliveries. Swiggy has partnered with IRCTC to deliver food in stations across India. Swiggy Instamart has partnered with Park+ deliver FASTags at doorstep. Swiggy partnered with Gogoro to provide smart scooters to delivery partners.