The New Entry to India's Unicorn Club: Swiggy The start-up has secured a funding of $210 million from existing investors Naspers and new investors DST Global.

India's big unicorn club has a new member. Within four years of operations, food delivery start-up Swiggy has now become a unicorn. The start-up is set to raise $210 million from existing investors Naspers and new investors DST Global. The round will also see participation from existing shareholder, Meituan-Dianping and new investor, Coatue Management.

Entrepreneur India takes a look at how the company made it to the Unicorn club

Fast Route for Growth

Since its founding in 2014, Swiggy has made a mark for itself in the foodtech space, leaving behind most of its competitors. Only in January, Swiggy had gone on to raise USD 100 million in Series F Funding. This had come in right after multiple rumours about the company's operations not seeing a positive change, taking everyone by surprise.

Then, the company planned to strengthen its market leadership position by introducing a host of unique and advanced products and services. Post its last funding round, Swiggy had begun operations in Kochi, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Lucknow and introduced innovative payment options for both consumers and delivery partners

"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, "said Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy in a statement.

Currently, Swiggy has gathered a presence in 15 cities, with over 35,000 restaurant partners and 40,000 delivery executives.

Taking on Rivals

The food delivery start-up Swiggy has a competitor within the Unicorn club itself – Zomato. With its positioning in the Unicorn club, Swiggy now comes at par with its counterpart Zomato (which has been expanding rapidly and has already marked a global presence).

From talks about Zomato acquiring Swiggy today, Swiggy marking its pathway to success, only proves one thing – the foodtech segment could have slowed down but is here to stay. The turn to digitization has only boosted the growth of foodtech, which also brings with itself convenience for consumers.

In its quest for growth, Swiggy had also acquired gourmet Asian food startup 48East. With the acqui-hire option, Swiggy welcomed senior talent from the start-up 48East into its offices.

With the new series F funding, the foodtech company aims to ramp up its supply chain network and expand to new markets. At the same time, they are looking at investing in their core capabilities that will enhance consumer experience and the brand. Focusing on technology, the company is also looking at doubling its headcount for the tech department to build robust operations, deep personalization and connected supply chain systems.