India-based online food delivery platform Swiggy has begun discussions with prospective investors including internet group Tencent to raise $700m, LiveMint reported on Friday.
The funding would be provided at a valuation of “at least” $2.5bn, according to three people aware of the discussions, almost double that at which it last raised funding, in June this year.
Swiggy runs an online platform that allows users to order food from a network of 40,000 local restaurants in 27 Indian cities that is then delivered to their homes.
The new capital would fund expansion into adjacent areas, such as last-mile delivery, which will involve acquisitions of smaller operators. Swiggy acquired food and consumer product supplier Scootsy in August 2018 and milk delivery service Suprdaily earlier this month.
The company had raised a total of $465m as of the $210m round in June, which was co-led by media and e-commerce group Naspers and investment firm DST Global with backing from local services platform Meituan Dianping and investment manager Coatue Management.
Naspers had already led Swiggy’s $80m series E round in May 2017 as well as a $100m series F in February this year that included Meituan Dianping, reportedly valuing the company at $600m to $650m.
Private equity firm SAIF Partners and venture capital firms Norwest Venture Partners, Accel, Harmony Partners and RB Investments are among Swiggy’s earlier backers.
A report in Mint last month suggested Swiggy was in talks with telecommunications and internet group SoftBank over a round sized at $500m or more. However, discussions have reportedly fallen through and SoftBank now appears likelier to invest in rival Zomato.