[Funding alert] SoftBank in talks to invest around $450M in Swiggy; valuation to rise to $5B

SoftBank is in advanced talks on investing around $450 million (around Rs 3,348 crore) in the food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy.

The deal is likely to peg the valuation of Bengaluru-based firm at $5 billion, sources familiar to the development said.

The food delivery startup had earlier announced an investment of $800 million (around Rs 5,862 crore) by Falcon Edge Capital, Amansa Capital, Think Investments, Carmignac, and Goldman Sach.

The likely deal was announced in an email sent by the startup's co-founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety to employees earlier in April.

The proposed investment comes at a time when rival food ordering platform Zomato is planning to go for an initial public offering (IPO) during the year.

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An email sent to Swiggy spokesperson remained unanswered at the time of filing this story, PTI reported.

Swiggy was founded in 2014 by Sriharhsa Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini. It achieved the coveted unicorn status in December 2017 and has over 1,30,000 delivery partners (the foodtech startup had 2,20,000 delivery partners before the pandemic). Rahul no longer plays an operational role at Swiggy.

In his email to employees, Majety, earlier this month, had said, "Over the last year, thanks to all your efforts, we've managed to drive a strong recovery in the food delivery business with a very clear path to profitability."

The food delivery business is the strongest it has ever been, and Swiggy is now well on its way to drive continued growth over the next decade, he had added.

Genie — its new Dunzo-like feature that services any kind of delivery anywhere — is now present in 65 cities. Its grocery delivery platform Instamart is operational in two cities, and HealthHub, which focuses on health foods, is available in four cities. 

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)