Swiggy gets a $1.25 billion cheque from Softbank for the same reason Zomato went for an IPO

• Swiggy IPO comes days after Zomato closed its $1.3 billion IPO, which was oversubscribed by 38 times.
• The food delivery startup will look at acquisitions to expand its growth and further boost its grocery vertical.
• Both Zomato and Swiggy have raised about $3 billion dollars each, to date, from marquee investors.

Food delivery app Swiggy has raised $1.25 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund II and Prosus (formerly known as Naspers). The development comes days after Zomato closed its $1.3 billion initial public offering (IPO), which was oversubscribed by more than 38 times.

Swiggy intends to use this funding to double down on its core business, make acquisitions and invest in its grocery delivery business Instamart. Besides this, the company will also focus on Swiggy Genie, a pickup-and-drop service.

Interestingly, rival Zomato, too, aims to use the capital raised from its IPO to make acquisitions as well as formally enter the grocery delivery segment. The company has reportedly invested more than $100 million in grocery delivery business Grofers.

Swiggy has raised about $3 billion to date from investors like DST Global, Goldman Sachs, Think Investments, Amansa Holdings, Falcon Edge Capital.

Meanwhile, Zomato has raised about $2.1 billion to date from marquee investors like Tiger Global Management, ANT Group, Naspers, Glade Brook Capital Partners and others. It will raise an additional $1.3 billion through its public issue.

Commenting on the latest fundraise, Swiggy’s chief executive and co-founder Sriharsha Majety said, “The scope of food delivery in India is massive and over the next few years, we will continue to invest aggressively into growing this category. Our biggest investments will be in our non-food businesses that have witnessed tremendous consumer love and growth in a short span, especially in the past 15 months of the pandemic.”

A part of this funding will also be utilised to enhance Swiggy’s capabilities in technology and artificial intelligence (AI). It will also strengthen teams across engineering, product, data science and analytics as well as supply chain for its newer initiatives.

“I believe 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,” Majety added.

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