How do you follow a $16bn exit? Use your money to keep on doubling down on your winners it seems.
Swiggy, an India-based food delivery startup, has raised $113m in a series I round that takes its total funding to $1.58bn.
Prosus Ventures, the corporate venturing unit for Naspers’ Netherlands-listed internet holding group Prosus, led the round to broadly maintain its 40% stake and was joined by Meituan Dianping, an e-commerce portfolio company of another of Prosus’s investments, internet company Tencent, as well as asset management firm Wellington Management.
It is a serious commitment by Prosus and its head of India, Ashutosh Sharma, who picked up the Global Corporate Venturing Rising Stars 2020 Award at last month’s ceremony at the Monterey Aquarium, California.
In addition to Swiggy, Sharma’s portfolio includes another unicorn (a private company valued at least $1bn) in Byju’s, and he has invested at least $1.5bn in the past few years to build its portfolio.
A notable exit from India was e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, whose $80m series E round in May 2017 was led by Naspers, which provided $71m and invested alongside corporates including Tencent, software producer Microsoft and online marketplace eBay. Retail group Walmart closed its $16bn acquisition of a majority stake in Flipkart in August 2018.
The Swiggy investment comes just after its India-based peer and chief local rival Zomato acquired Uber’s food delivery business in India. With both now well funded and the market consolidating it seems the scene is set for potential price rises if the competition allows, and an even more successful business that could attract public market investors even if Prosus continues to hold on to its stake, judging by its history with Tencent.
After all, why sell a winning hand for economic growth in a world of low or negative interest rates?
