It took several years for SoftBank to trust the Indian startup ecosystem. But now, the Japanese investment giant is quite clear about it and is pouring a lot of money on Indian firms. In a recent development, it led the series J round conducted by Swiggy to raise $1.25 billion.
Swiggy Collects $1.25 Billion in New Round
In a recent financing event, Swiggy closed the funding raise of $1.25 billion in its series J round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Prosus Ventures. The online food delivery giant already informed its employees via internal mail about the funding raise of $800 million related to the current round in quarter one of 2021.
In the current round, SoftBank invested $450 million alone. J round helped Swiggy to reach a valuation of $5.5 billion. The online food startup also informed that the current round was oversubscribed.
Qatar Investment Authority(QI), Falcon Edge Capital, Think Investment, Amansa Capital, Goldman Sachs, Carmignac, and existing investors including Accel Partners and Wellington Management also actively participated in the latest financial event.
As per Swiggy, investors have shown trust in Swiggy due to its turnaround in the past few quarters. The startup was badly hit by the covid-19 pandemic like other startups. The startup has expanded its operations by adding grocery delivery, pick up and drop services. Its order processing recorded a surge of 30% compared with the pre-covid era.
Swiggy CEO about Current Investment and Online Food Delivery Sector Status
Sriharsha Majety, CEO of Swiggy, is pumped up due to the trust shown by global investors in the startup. He said that current investment and the trust shown by investors will help the firm to become an iconic Indian brand. He further added that the online food delivery scope is massive in India and Swiggy will continue to add more categories in its existing operations to serve Indian customers.
In the future, Swiggy is looking to invest more in non-food categories due to the overwhelming response by the customers. Swiggy believes that the next 10-15 years is important for companies like Swiggy to expand their operations and grab 500 million users.
In recent months, Indian startups have raised whopping funds from both local and global investors. Zomato, the main rival of Swiggy, raised $1.3 billion in its initial public offering last week. And, matured startups like Mobikwik, Paytm have filed to start their IPOs.
As per the Bernstein report, the Indian online food sector will be worth $12 billion by 2022. Amazon has also entered the online food delivery segment but its operations are currently limited to Bangalore.
