Swiggy lags behind Zomato in Q1FY25; revenue rises 35%, losses widen to over Rs 600 Cr

IPO-bound Swiggy grew much slower than its biggest rival Zomato in the first quarter of FY25, with its losses widening by 8.31% to Rs 611 crore from Rs 564.08 crore in FY24.

The foodtech company's revenue from operations was Rs 3,222.21 crore, a 34.8% increase from Rs 2389.81 crore crore in the same quarter of the previous year, the company's updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) showed.

Zomato, on the other hand, reported a 74% jump in its operating revenue to Rs 4,206 crore during the period. More importantly, Zomato reported a profit of Rs 253 crore, which also marked the company's fifth straight profitable quarter.

Swiggy's total expenses for FY25 rose by 27.18%, reaching Rs 3,907.95 crore compared to Rs 3,072.56 crore in FY24.

A significant portion of this increase was driven by employee benefits, which grew 21.28% to Rs 589.18 crore from Rs 485.78 crore, and the purchase of stock-in-trade, which jumped 33.23% to Rs 1,195.14 crore from Rs 897.01 crore.

Additionally, delivery and related charges, a key cost component for Swiggy's operations, saw a sharp rise of 39.65%, growing to Rs 1,046.04 crore in FY25 from Rs 749 crore in FY24.

The company filed its updated DRHP late on Thursday for a fresh issue of Rs 3,750 crore along with an offer for sale of 18.52 crore shares from selling stockholders.

Swiggy plans to use the proceeds for investments in its subsidiary Scootsy, debt repayments, expansion of its dark store network, and technology and brand building.

Swiggy might also consider a pre-IPO placement of shares worth up to Rs 750 crore, and, in that case, the company plans to reduce the size of the fresh issue.

Swiggy, which is backed by top global investors including Prosus and SoftBank, had filed for an IPO with India's market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in April, via the confidential route.

YourStory reported earlier this month that the company was aiming to raise $1.25 billion or about Rs 10,400 crore in the IPO, including a mix of primary and secondary share sales. Swiggy will look to list at a valuation of about $15 billion, half of Zomato's current market capitalisation, which is hovering around $30 billion. Swiggy last raised funds in January 2022 at a valuation of $10.7 billion.

Among the shareholders, Elevation Capital will sell 73.96 lakh shares, Accel India 1.05 crore shares, DST EuroAsia 56 lakh shares, and Inspired Elite Investments 67 lakh shares. MIH India Food (Prosus), the largest selling stockholder in the offering, will sell 11.8 crore shares. Other selling stockholders include Tencent Cloud Europe, Norwest Venture Partners VII, Coatue PE Asia, and Alpha Wave Ventures.

Notably, Softbank is not selling shares in the company's public issue.