What did it take to build Swiggy? Consumer obsession, says Co-founder Phani Kishan
At TechSparks Bengaluru 2024, Swiggy Co-founder Phani Kishan noted that it's the leadership's consumer obsession which is key to fuelling its IPO dreams.
Swiggy Co-founder Phani Kishan Addepalli believes the foodtech company's relentless focus on putting consumers at the centre of every decision—even at the cost of taking tough calls—has been key to its success, as the startup now prepares to go public.
Speaking at TechSparks Bengaluru 2024, the Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer shared Swiggy’s struggles in 2015 when scaling from 500 to 2,000 thousand orders a day. At the time, the company was using a telephonic system to provide consumer updates, requiring delivery partners to dial specific combinations—a process that led to frequent misdials and escalations.
To address these issues, CEO Sriharsha Majety and the leadership team made a bold decision to temporarily halt operations for a couple of days to launch its delivery partner app, ensuring smoother operations.
“We care about customers that we would rather not take business than do a bad job,” said Kishan in a fireside chat with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO, YourStory.
"For 48 hours, all of us were on the ground, downloading the app [for the delivery partners] and educating them how to use it, and only then did we restart the operations," he added.
Swiggy, which competes with its listed peer Zomato in the food delivery business and unicorns like Zepto in quick commerce, plans to list by the end of this year. It filed its draft red herring prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) yesterday. The IPO would comprise a fresh issue of Rs 3,750 crore, along with an offer-for-sale of 18.52 crore shares, and targets a valuation of $10 billion.
The foodtech unicorn posted an operating revenue of Rs 11,247 crore in FY24, a 36% year-on-year rise from Rs 8,264 crore it earned in FY23, according to the company’s annual report.
Ahead of its public offering, Swiggy has been focusing on increasing order values, boosting advertising revenues, and implementing cost-reduction strategies to achieve profitability.
The company plans to use the IPO proceeds for investments in its material subsidiary, Scootsy, as well as for repaying debt. It also plans to use the funds for expanding its dark store network, and investments in technology and brand-building initiatives.
Edited by Kanishk Singh