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Bengaluru-based foodtech giant Swiggy has announced on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, that it is calling all bidders in the drone-as-a-services segment to help execute its drone delivery plans.

The foodtech unicorn took to LinkedIn to invite bidders. It further mentioned that the delivery of grocery and essential items with the use of drones will be deployed in several cities and for a period of six months to start with. However, the duration of deployment of these drones “may be amended from time to time,” the post read.

Reportedly, Swiggy will be deploying drone delivery services in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and Goa, to begin with.

This comes after Swiggy announced in last December that it will be investing $700 million in its instant grocery delivery service Instamart.

Sriharsha Majety, CEO of Swiggy had earlier told YS that Instamart was expected to reach an annualised GMV run rate of $1 billion in the next three quarters.

Reportedly about 25 percent of Swiggy’s overall revenue come from its non-food delivery business which includes Instamart, Swiggy Genie and SuprDaily.

Back in 2020, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCI) had approved 13 companies to use drones to enable drone deliveries during the COVID-19-induced nationwide lockdown. Swiggy and its competitor Zomato were two of the 13 companies receiving permission from the DGCI. Prior to this, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had provided exemptions for the use of drones only for photography and non-commercial purposes.

Post this, Swiggy has been trying to deploy drones for doorstep deliveries for some time now. Earlier in June last year, YS had reported Swiggy’s association with ANRA Technologies to begin the trials for drone deliveries in the country.

The Softbank Group-backed foodtech giant raised $800 million from Falcon Edge, Amansa Capital, Think Investments, Carmignac, and Golman Sachs, with participation from GIC and Qatar Investment Authority. Its existing investors Accel Partners and Prosus Ventures also participated in the funding round. Three months later, it raised another $1.25 billion from the Softbank Vision Fund. With this, Swiggy’s valuation stood at a whooping $5.5 billion.

The bidding started the request for proposal and all related details are available here.