Swiggy, the online food delivery app is planning to raise funds for its next phase of expansion. The company is reportedly in talks with South Korean venture capital funds, including STIC Investments, Korea Investment Partners, Neoplux & Mirae Asset Management, to bag $500 million in a funding round.

As per sources close to the matter, Naspers, the South African internet giant is leading the round. Along with Tencent, Naspers is the largest investor in Swiggy & owns a stake of around 36% in the company. There is also a secondary share sale which is under progress, apart from the primary capital. Previously, Swiggy was valued at $3.3 billion, and the prospective funding is expected to raise the company’s valuation to around $4 billion.

For the record, in December 2018, Swiggy collected $1 billion in a funding round led by Naspers, along with Tencent, Wellington Management, & Hillhouse Capital, attaining a valuation of $3.3 billion. Out of the entire funding round, $200 million were a secondary sale, which was executed by Accel Partners & SAIF Partners. In the new financing round, a similar secondary transaction is expected to be sealed.

Vivek Sunder, COO, Swiggy, was reported to say in a statement that he expects growth driven by customer repeats from top fifty million internet users, this year. The growth would include scaling up products, expanding restaurant selection, including loyalty programs such as SwiggyDaily, Swiggy Super, student campus program Launchpad & single-serve meals product Pop, he added.

Swiggy, along with its biggest competitor Zomato, spends $40 to 50 million per month to acquire repeat customers in a scenario where the customers heavily rely on discounts. Swiggy completes approximately million orders a day. With the expansion, the company is looking forward to attaining a sizeable growth along with expansion in small towns & cities.

The company is also planning to scale up its services beyond food delivery; which may include Swiggy Daily, subscription-based home-style meals, doorstep service named Swiggy stores & Swiggy’s cloud kitchen business called Swiggy Access.

Source credits: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/swiggy-in-talks-with-south-korean-funds-to-raise-up-to-500-million/articleshow/70221003.cms