Swiggy shuts down premium grocery service Handpicked

Food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy has closed down Handpicked, its premium grocery delivery service, just six months after rolling out a pilot for users in Bengaluru.

Handpicked was introduced in December last year to provide gourmet local food products such as Kombucha, ready-to-cook meats, spreads, and region-specific food. It also offered international products like Coca-Cola's Cherry Cola.

The service was rolled out in pilot mode to select users in Bengaluru and was on an invite-only basis.

"At Swiggy we're continuously experimenting with new propositions in line with our vision to enable unparalleled convenience to consumers. Handpicked was being piloted in a few zones in Bengaluru and we have had several positive learnings from it," a Swiggy spokesperson said in response to YourStory's query.

Users can continue to access Instamart and InsanelyGood. ET was the first to report on the development.

Swiggy launched ecommerce service Maxx recently with the promise of delivery orders within an hour. The move signals Swiggy's step towards creating a shopping ecosystem, right from food and grocery delivery to ecommerce. Food delivery and Instamart, however, will remain the core businesses.

YourStory reported last month that Swiggy rebranded its morning grocery delivery service, Supr Daily, to InsanelyGood, with a focus on locally sourced and organic food items.

Meanwhile, the food delivery firm is in early-stage talks to raise $300 million through an internal round, Entrackr reported. The funds are likely to be deployed towards growing its quick commerce business and new initiatives such as Minis.

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Swiggy lays off 380 employees, to shut down meat marketplace

The company is also preparing for a public listing by September this year, according to media reports. Recently, Swiggy's CTO Dale Vaz stepped down from his role, while the Senior Vice President for consumer technology and fintech at the company, Madhusudhan Rao, was elevated to the CTO role.

Last month, Co-founder Phani Kishan Addepalli took over as the head of Instamart, after Karthik Gurumurthy announced he would be taking a sabbatical.

(The story was updated with the report of Swiggy's potential fundraise.)