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Reportedly, Swiggy has started appointing independent directors to its board

It is targeting to go public by early next year

Development comes on the backdrop of it raising $700 Mn and finalising the acquisition of Dineout

Food delivery giant Swiggy is eyeing to raise $800 Mn through public listing as early as by next year. Further, the Bengaluru-based food aggregator is likely to list itself as a logistics startup and not as a food delivery company. 

As per a report by Nikkei Asia, it has begun its process for public listing and has started adding independent directors to its board. Hiring of independent directors is one of the key indicators of a startup heading for public listing. We have seen this in the case of ixigo, OYO, Snapdeal, among others. 

The report further mentioned that Swiggy will be utilising the IPO money to expand market share. 

The development comes after a couple of months when Swiggy announced raising $700 Mn led by Invesco Group. The round, with several new investors and participation from existing investors helped it enter the decacorn club. The status (decacorn) is for startups whose valuation touches or crosses the $10 Bn mark. 

News of Swiggy’s IPO plans comes almost on the heels of one of its largest acquisitions which is yet to be announced. For the uninformed, it is to note here that Swiggy is in the final stage to acquire Times Internet-backed online restaurant table booking service platform Dineout.

In its report dated February 15, 2022, Inc42 had mentioned that this deal will be pegged at somewhere between $150 Mn and $200 Mn. The said deal will help Swiggy to tap in the dine-in business which it lacked to date and its rival Zomato had dominated so far. 

The deal will further help Swiggy to get into outdoor event management as well. 

The Bengaluru-based startup in the backdrop of the pandemic has doubled down on its quick commerce business Instamart. It has already committed to $700 Mn of investment to further boost its quick commerce business. The startup’s quick commerce business locks its horns with Reliance-backed hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo, Zomato-backed Blinkit, and new entrant to the market – Zepto. 

Swiggy’s rival Zomato was one of the early new age startups to have tasted the public market after it went public to raise INR 9,375 Cr. Just like other tech startups, Zomato is facing the heat of market volatility, as its shares are trading at a significant low. At the time of filing the story Zomato’s shares were trading at INR 79.85 on NSE.