Swiggy sees four-fold revenue jump in FY18 as losses double to Rs 3.9 bn

Swiggy had in June entered the elite Unicorn club after raising $210 million from a group of investors

Bundl Technologies, which runs food delivery app Swiggy, grew its business four times in FY18 even though losses for the same period increased two times. 

In the financial year ended March, the company’s revenue stood at Rs 4.4 billion when compared with Rs 1.3 billion in the previous year, according to company’s filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), sourced from business intelligence platform, Tofler.

The losses of the online food ordering and delivery platform for the same period doubled to Rs 3.9 billion from Rs 2 billion in FY17. However, the cumulative losses of the company at end of FY18 stood at Rs 7.4 billion.

The Bengaluru-based firm had in June entered the elite Unicorn club after raising $210 million from a group of investors, which valued the platform at $1.3 billion. The funding was led by lead investor Naspers and billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global. The company has so far raised over $450 million. “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,” Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and CEO of Swiggy, had said after the fundraise. 

The company has since been burning cash to expand its delivery network and enter newer markets with fresh competition coming in from UberEATS and Foodpanda. Cab aggregator Ola, which had acquired Foodpanda India from Delivery Hero in December, had said it would be infusing $200 million in the firm. Even Zomato has been on a fundraising spree and had earlier this month signed a definitive agreement to undertake a primary fundraise of $210 million from existing investor Alipay Singapore. 

Flushed with cash, these companies are now indulging in deep discounts to garner market share. Foodpanda, in August, had launched its Crave Party campaign offering desserts for as low as Rs 9 and snacks for Rs 19. Even UberEATS, which sees India as the fastest-growing market around the world, has been giving deep discounts on breakfasts.