Food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy’s business has recovered fully from the effects of the COVID pandemic, according to one of its biggest investors, Prosus.
In its earnings report for the year ended March 31, 2022, Prosus said Swiggy has focussed on reactivating users, increasing monthly frequency and returning user conversion to levels they were at prior to the pandemic. The tech investor, which has invested $299 million in Swiggy, currently has a 33 percent stake in the company.
Strong growth
The numbers show that Swiggy's platform now has 1.95 lakh restaurants, which is 110 percent of its pre-pandemic level, and that daily orders are up 55 percent. The platform currently has roughly 3 lakh delivery partners. Swiggy’s gross merchandise value (GMV) grew 76 percent to $2.3 billion in FY22 while rival Zomato’s GMV came in at $2.72 billion.
Prosus invested twice in Swiggy, in April 2021 and February 2022, putting in $274 million the first time and $25 million subsequently. As of March 2021, it held a 41 percent stake in the company, which then came down to 33 percent as it did not participate equally.
Prosus said that its share of Swiggy’s revenue for FY22 was $212 million, up 57 percent from FY21 (Prosus’ share of Swiggy’s revenue in FY21 was $135 million). This increase was driven by higher average order values compared to pre-pandemic levels, and an increase in revenue from both delivery fees and advertising sales.
Instamart, Swiggy’s quick commerce offering, saw its daily orders go up 10x year-on-year, per the report. “This resulted in accelerated growth in the groceries vertical coupled with continuous growth in the restaurant food delivery business vertical,” it read.
While revenue increased 57 percent to $212 million, Prosus added that its share of losses increased to $100 million, driven by the expansion of Instamart.
A global portfolio
Prosus’ other food tech bets include Brazilian food-delivery platform iFood, German multinational Delivery Hero, German grocery-delivery startup Flink, Norwegian online grocery firm Oda, and Foodics, a restaurant-management startup in West Asia.
Swiggy has been doubling down on its quick commerce vertical Instamart as well. In January 2022, the company raised $700 million and said the money will be used to invest in Instamart as well as accelerate growth on the food-delivery front.
At the time, it had said that the quick commerce arm would reach an annualised GMV run rate of $1 billion in the following three quarters. Swiggy’s rivals in the quick commerce space in India include Zomato-owned Blinkit, Tata-owned BigBasket and Zepto.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
