Food Delivery Platform Swiggy has sealed its much awaited $210 million funding with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s’ DST Global thereby finally making entry into the prestigious “Unicorn” club.
The company has informed that the investment round also saw participation from hedge fund Coatue and existing backer Meituan Dianping, with a total capital crossing $466 million including this round.
Swiggy will be using the freshly raised capital in revamping its supply chain network and expanding to new markets. With an expected market valuation of $1.2 billion, the food delivery startup is ready to beef a war with Ant Financial-backed Zomato and new rivals like Ubereats and Ola-owned Foodpanda.
Sriharsha Majety, CEO of Swiggy, in a statement, said,
We’re thrilled to have grown the online food delivery market in India at an exponential rate, always keeping our consumers at the helm. With this investment, we will continue to widen Swiggy’s offerings, along with bolstering our capabilities and plugging the gaps in the on-demand delivery ecosystem.
Coming to DST Global, the latest funding marks company’s third India investment after India’s largest online retailer Flipkart in 2014 and cab hailing Ola in 2015. It is already considered as world’s most influential tech investor which counts Facebook, Airbnb, and Alibaba in its investment portfolio.
“Swiggy’s rapid growth, along with highly engaged users, restaurants, and delivery partners, shows the strong value proposition they have for all participants in the ecosystem,” said Saurabh Gupta, Managing Partner at DST Global.
With Swiggy now a unicorn, the food battle is expected to intensify in a 2.5$ Mn worth Indian food tech industry.