Swiggy’s food delivery biz turns profitable

Hello,

Domino’s is all set to launch on ONDC.

The two teams are currently working on “technology scoping and integration,” said Sameer Batra, President and CBO of the pizza brand’s parent company Jubilant Foodworks, during its latest earnings call. He added that this integration with Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC) will help Domino’s enable faster deliveries. 

Here’s hoping for cheaper pizzas and garlic breadsticks thanks to lower prices on ONDC…at least for now.

Earlier this month, DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said that the government is keen on all ecommerce platforms becoming a part of the network in order to democratise online selling for MSMEs and smaller manufacturers in remote locations. Recently, several companies have joined ONDC’s network, such as Razorpay, Bigbasket, and Magicpin. In fact, PhonePe launched an ONDC-enabled app Pincode last month. 

ICYMI: TikTok creators are using AI to rewrite history.

Meanwhile, AWS is betting heavily on India. The cloud computing unit of ecommerce major Amazon plans to invest $12.7 billion in ramping up the country’s cloud infrastructure by 2030 to fulfil rising consumer demand. This move, which takes the company’s total investment in India to $16.4 billion, is expected to create over one lakh jobs. 

Oh, and let’s chart the world’s skyscrapers.

Spoiler alert: China is leading the vertical revolution.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Swiggy’s food delivery biz turns profitable
• Flipkart improves Walmart's profits
• Indian ecommerce hits $60B GMV

Here’s your trivia for today: What is the only continent with land in all four hemispheres?

Foodtech

Swiggy’s food delivery biz turns profitable

Swiggy's food delivery business turned profitable in March—the first time since its launch in 2014. 

"This is a milestone for food delivery globally, not just for us, as Swiggy has become one of the very few global food delivery platforms to achieve profitability in less than 9 years since its inception," wrote Co-founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety in a blogpost.

Milestone:

• Swiggy turned profitable including all corporate costs, other than costs for the employee stock ownership plan.
• Majety said the business has "made strong progress on the profitability" with its grocery division Instamart and is on track to "hit contribution neutrality"
• The company now looks to gain a stronger foothold in Tier II and III markets.

Funding Alert

Startup: Nodwin Gaming

Amount: $28M

Round: Equity

Startup: Rooter

Amount: $16M

Round: Debt and equity

Startup: Speed Kitchen

Amount: Undisclosed

Round: Seed

Ecommerce

Flipkart improves Walmart's profits

Walmart-owned Flipkart contributed to the strong growth in net sales for its international business arm, according to the retail giant’s earnings filing quarter ended April 30.

"In India, Flipkart had strong topline results and has improved contribution to profit. It continues to add to its portfolio of services," said Executive VP and CFO John David Rainey.

Earnings:

• Walmart reported consolidated revenue of $152.3 billion for Q1 FY24, up 7.7% YoY at constant currency rates. The consolidated operating income went up by $0.9 billion.
• Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that the company was considering the opportunity to increase its exports from India.
• "Flipkart has built an ecosystem and PhonePe leveraging 1 trillion TPV (total payment volume), with 36 million merchants online," said Judith McKenna, CEO of Walmart International.

Ecommerce

Indian ecommerce hits $60B GMV

Ecommerce in India hit a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $60 billion in FY23 despite slowing growth, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants. Flipkart Group retained its market share in the ecommerce industry at 48%, having grown 1.6X faster than the industry in the first three months of 2023.

Key findings:

• Online retail in the country grew 22% year-on-year last fiscal, while the sector grew 36% in FY22 compared to the year-ago period.
• Fashion was the largest segment in the ecommerce space in FY23 with a 27% market share, led by an increasing share of women shoppers.
• With 210 million annual shoppers in FY23, ads monetisation contributed $1.2 billion in revenue for Indian e-tailers in FY23.

News & updates

• Futile: Companies in Apple’s third-party repair programme say delays in the process and high pricing for parts make it almost impossible to compete with the juggernaut. While Apple claims it takes an average of eight weeks for repairers to be admitted, several said the wait time can be up to six months.
• United: Seven of the world’s largest semiconductor makers have set out plans to increase manufacturing and deepen tech partnerships in Japan as Western allies step up efforts to reshape the global chip supply chain amid rising tensions with China.
• Spin-off: Alibaba Group posted a 2% rise in quarterly revenue, missing expectations, and said it would list its cloud computing business in the next year. The company has been struggling to attract new users as China's e-commerce sector matures and it grapples with inroads made by new competitors.

What is the only continent with land in all four hemispheres?

Answer: Africa

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