Swiggy raises $1.8 mn from returning investor Samsung Ventures

Bengaluru headquartered Bundl Technologies, which owns food delivery platform Swiggy, has raised Rs 14.2 crore ($1.8 million at current exchange rates) in an ongoing growth funding round from the investment arm of the electronic device maker Samsung.

Bundl Technologies issued 602 Series I compulsorily convertible preference shares at Rs 2,36,130 per share to Samsung Ventures, regulatory filings showed. The returning investor now controls 0.24% stake in the startup.

Additionally, the company has passed a special resolution to appoint Daniel Joram Brody, managing director of Tencent Investment, as a non-executive nominee director on its board, the filings showed.

Samsung Ventures marked its first investment in Swiggy last month, when it co-led a $34 million Series I funding round with Tencent Holdings and three other investors. In February, the startup raised $112.5 million in the first tranche of the same round. Including the current investment, the company has raised a total of Rs 306 crore ($40.4 million) as part of the Series I round in the financial year 2020-21, filings showed.

Online food delivery firms have been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as a majority of restaurants across the country remain shut due to the extended nationwide lockdown, even as several delivery executives test positive for the virus.

Read: Coronavirus India LIVE updates

Both Swiggy and Zomato have been shoring up funds and implementing several cost cutting measures to tide over the crisis.

Swiggy on Monday said it would lay off 1,100 employees and scale down some “volatile business verticals”, including cloud kitchens. Employees across functions and cities are affected by the layoffs, co-founder and CEO Shriharsha Majety said in a blog post.  

Last week, Alibaba-backed Zomato announced its plans to lay off 13% of its 4,000-strong workforce, among other cost-cutting measures. CEO Deepinder Goyal said in an open letter that he expected the number of restaurants to shrink by an estimated 25-40% over the next 6-12 months due to the lockdown. 

Zomato last raised capital in April, when Pacific Horizon Investment Trust, a fund managed by British investment management firm Baillie Gifford, invested $5 million in the company.