Swiggy, An India-based Food Delivery Startup, Raises $1B

As we ramp up to slow down for the holiday season, let’s talk about who has picked up more venture dollars.

One of India’s leading food delivery companies, Swiggy, scored a $1 billion round led by South Africa-based Naspers with participation from a new investor, China’s Tencent, among others. Months ago, the company was reportedly in talks with Tencent to raise capital in the face of growing competition with Zomato, India’s other delivery competitor. Naspers dedicated $660 million to the round.

The round brings Swiggy’s total known funding to nearly $1.5 billion, according to Crunchbase. It is now valued at $3.3 billion, according to the Economic Times, up from $1.31 billion in June following a $210 million infusion also led by Naspers along with DST Global.

In October, Zomato scored $210 million of its own from Alipay Singapore—the Singapore branch of Ant Financial—just months after Ant Financial itself invested $200 million. The company has raised a known total of nearly $654 million, according to Crunchbase. It was last valued at just over $2 billion.

The enthusiasm on the part of the Alibaba-affiliate and Tencent could be driven by their strategic interest in gathering more of the growing payment market in India’s emerging economy. Similar efforts have been made in Southeast Asia among ridesharing companies Grab and Go-Jek. We’ll wait to see how long this venture competition lasts, particularly if a global market correction is in our future. For now, Swiggy has a bit more to work with.