Food-tech major Swiggy recorded major growth in its sales and volumes for the first six months of the fiscal year (April-September), the company’s one of the biggest investors Prosus said in its earning statements. Swiggy’s core restaurant food delivery business delivered order growth and gross merchandise value (GMV) growth of 38% and 40%, respectively, said Prosus, whose overall revenue surged to $16.5 billion for the six months ended 30 September 2022.
"Swiggy’s core restaurant food delivery business grew GMV by 40%, while its quick commerce GMV increased 15x during the first six months of the year," said Prosus. The Netherlands-based global investment group's share of Swiggy’s revenue grew 118% to $150 million, reflecting higher average order values and increased revenue from delivery fees and advertising sales.
GMV for Swiggy’s food delivery arm and quick commerce unit stood at $1.3 billion and $257 million, respectively. However, its share of Swiggy's trading losses also increased to $105 million on investment in both the core restaurant food delivery business and Instamart. "Our share of Swiggy’s trading loss increased to US$105m (H1 FY22: US$34m), driven by investment in both the core restaurant food delivery business to increase growth and in Instamart to expand its footprint," said Prosus.
Prosus has invested around $299 million in Swiggy in two rounds ($274 million and $25 million) in April 2021 and February 2022, respectively.
As per Prosus, Swiggy remains well-funded to drive its business objectives. Notably, in May 2022, Swiggy announced the acquisition of Dineout, a leading dining-out and restaurant tech solutions platform in India.
Prosus' portfolio of food businesses is present in over 70 countries, with the most significant businesses being iFood, Delivery Hero and Swiggy.
Its overall trading profit during the said period declined to$1.4 billion, reflecting a lower share of profits from Tencent and investment in new e-commerce extensions, including autos, credit, quick commerce and grocery delivery.
Prosus said its food delivery segment delivered strong growth, with a focus on improving profitability in the core restaurant businesses, coupled with controlled investment in growth extensions, such as quick commerce and groceries. "On an economic interest basis, GMV grew 26%, increasing revenues by 52% to US$1.9bn. Investment into adjacencies increased trading losses by US$69m, to US$381m," it said.
In payments and fintech, in India, which is Prosus' largest payments market, TPV grew 59% to $28 billion, and revenue increased 48% to $183 million on increased digitalisation in e-commerce, financial services and bill payments, and a rebound in post-pandemic travel.
In ed-tech, Prosus says though the segment showed good topline growth, with revenues on an economic interest basis increasing 38% to $334 million, trading losses impacted by one-off adjustments related to BYJU’s, Udemy and Skillsoft grew to $178 million.
Its classifieds unit, OLX, reported a strong start to the year, with revenues on an economic interest basis growing 60% to $1.34 billion.