Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan's family office picked up a minor stake in the food-delivery and quick-commerce startup Swiggy through purchase of shares from the company's employees and early investors, reported the Economic Times, quoting anonymous people aware of the development, on Wednesday, August 28.
New-age startups like Swiggy, which especially focus on quick commerce, are emerging as the top investment picks for investors, according to the report.
Chairman of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Raamdeo Agrawal, has also picked up a stake in the company at a time when the quick-commerce industry is at a peak when looking at the companies raising funds, said the report. Agrawal also picked up a stake in the quick-commerce competitor Zepto, from its $665 million funding round, reported the news company citing people in the know.
The report also mentioned that the invested amounts are unknown, and these are sizeable cheques for individual investors, quoting anonymous sources. Swiggy is preparing for a $1.25 billion initial public offering (IPO), as per the report.
The secondary share sales are alleged to have happened by assigning a valuation of nearly $10 billion to $11 billion to Swiggy, the sources told the news company.
Raamdeo Agrawal and Zepto refused to comment, while Amitabh Bachchan's family office and Swiggy did not respond to the news company's query.
Zomato, a Swiggy rival's turnaround and the growth of its Blinkit business returns focus back into the industry, the reason “why investors are placing these bets,” an investor aware of the development told ET. “Swiggy is in a very advanced stage of going public, while Zepto has outlined plans in the next few years too,” they said.
“Blinkit offers a generational opportunity to participate in the disruption of industries such as retail, grocery and ecommerce,” according to a research note from Motilal Aswal on August 2, quoted in the report.
Swiggy investor 360 One WAM’s internal note recorded ₹7,474 crore in revenue for the first half of the financial year 2024, as per the report.
