Swiggy

Representative image. Food aggregator and delivery platform Swiggy on May 13 said that it has signed a definitive agreement with Times Internet to acquire Dineout, a restaurant tech platform. Swiggy did not disclose the size of the deal and said that Dineout will continue to operate as an independent app post the acquisition. Swiggy said it is looking to capitalize on Dineout’s  assets and leverage its position in the dining out space. As a part of the transaction, founders Ankit Mehrotra, Nikhil Bakshi, Sahil Jain and Vivek Kapoor will join Swiggy once the acquisition is completed, Swiggy said. The acquisition will help Swiggy to expand its offerings to dining out table reservations and events, Swiggy said. Swiggy also said that the acquisition will allow its restaurant partners to reach more customers. Dineout has a network of over 50,000 restaurants, which Swiggy would leverage. Close “The acquisition will allow Swiggy to explore synergies and offer … [Read more...] about Swiggy buys Times Internet’s restaurant tech platform Dineout

After a week of halting Genie’s operations in cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai, foodtech major Swiggy has resumed its operations this week but the services will now be available from 7am-8pm. The app also shows that 'Long distance deliveries may not be available due to current demand.' This comes at a time when the food tech and quick commerce players have been dealing with attrition and dearth of delivery executives which has turned out to be a bigger problem for these players. Additionally, these players are also seeing a surge in demand during the IPL matches and also due to the festive season, leading to more supply-demand issues. Last week on May 7, Moneycontrol reported that Swiggy halted its pick-and-drop service Genie. The company in a statement had said "Swiggy Genie is temporarily unavailable in 3 out of the 68 cities. The cricketing and festive season has resulted in a surge in demand for servicing the requirements for both the food … [Read more...] about Swiggy resumes Genie, but long distance deliveries still not available

New C-Class Mercedes-Benz, the country’s largest maker of luxury cars by volume, recently launched its entry-level premium sedan the C-class at a price that’s higher than ever before, but the Stuttgart-based auto major doesn’t see that as a barrier to pushing sales and driving volumes. Instead, its executives say that its product portfolio, which it claims is the widest in the category, combined with its transparent pricing mechanism, is future-proofing its business model, and prepping it for even higher sales. Mercedes-Benz India reported sales of 11,242 cars and SUVs in 2021, cementing it at the top of the luxury segment for the seventh year running and giving it a market share of around 41 percent. For Q1 this year, the company says it has already sold around 4,022 units. In terms of its range of products, Mercedes claims the largest selection in the Indian market. “We have the broadest portfolio of any manufacturer in India,” Martin Schwenk, Mercedes-Benz India’s CEO, … [Read more...] about Mercedes-Benz tackles tough market with wide portfolio, transparent pricing

Food tech companies are seeing a 10-15 percent rise in orders during the ongoing Indian Premier League cricket tournament. From Curefoods and EatClub to Biryani By Kilo, these platforms are registering strong growth during matches, company executives said. “We saw a pickup in demand for multigrain pizzas and our very popular kulcha burgers – these are what we refer to as entertainment food … The demand during weekends was 2x as compared to weekdays,” said Ankit Nagori, founder of Curefoods. “Another trend in April was the return of many more people to their offices. This happened to coincide with the IPL season. So, we doubled up on our conversation with these consumers as well,” said Nagori. The 15th edition of IPL started on March 26 and is scheduled to end on May 29. The tournament was disrupted in the previous two years by the Covid-19 pandemic. IPL 13 was held in the United Arab Emirates, while last year’s edition took place in two phases – the first in India and the … [Read more...] about Food tech companies getting more orders; thanks to IPL, office reopening

Image Source: ShutterStock “The work is tough, especially during the day due to the current heatwave. Moreover, customers often call and demand we pick up other things on the way. It takes time to complete a delivery and receive good ratings. It is not a job of 10-15 minutes. The quality of service degrades if one is in a hurry,” said a Mumbai-based delivery executive. He usually delivers 10-20 orders a day. Another executive, based in Gurgaon, outside Delhi, said, “Delivering was my choice, as I had to run a household also. But a 10-minute delivery adds to my stress. I only rush when I want to pick more orders, otherwise I avoid doing so.” Both executives asked that they not be identified. Lakhs of such executives are working around the clock to deliver orders in the promised 10-20 minutes. It has been some time coming but over the last month or so, the quick commerce space has seen a swirl of activity. From restaurant aggregator Zomato’s 10-minute delivery and grocery … [Read more...] about Quick commerce market faces some fast facts

In the last few months, Zepto, BlinkIt and Zomato have gone out of their way to promote ‘10-minute delivery’ even as they faced a lot of criticism from netizens, restaurant partners and delivery partners among others. However, let alone 10 minutes, deliveries are taking longer than usual thanks to internal and external competition among quick commerce and food delivery players, which is leading to high attrition of delivery partners, hurting the prospects of 10-minute deliveries. Moreover, delivery executives going back to their pre-pandemic jobs, which yield higher pay, is also hurting quick commerce and food-delivery companies. Moneycontrol spoke to one of Zepto’s delivery partners who delivered an order in 14 minutes. “Was I late?” said Vijay when he was asked if he knew that the delivery time was changed to 14 minutes from 10 minutes. The partner, Vijay K, said that his compensation depended on the time taken to deliver, and that late delivery would yield a lower delivery … [Read more...] about Are 10-minute deliveries failing?

In his book, The Golden Tap, serial entrepreneur Kashyap Deorah had described how Lee Fixel, a former partner with Tiger Global, used to filter potential startups on the basis of the founders' caste and JEE (advanced) ranks. Only candidates with high JEE (joint entrance examination) ranks make it to India’s premier technical institutes -- the central-government owned Indian Institutes of Technology, commonly known as IITs. “Fixel preferred North Indian Marwari banias with single or double-digit JEE ranks who were young and first-time entrepreneurs. An analysis had probably revealed that such entrepreneurs were the best performers in the companies Tiger liked funding,” Deorah had written. Fixel had led negotiations for funding rounds for Tiger Global in unicorns like Flipkart and Ola, which were among the New York-based hedge fund’s largest bets in India. Both the companies best fit Deorah’s description as Sachin and Binny Bansal, founders of Flipkart, come from IIT Delhi, … [Read more...] about 73 of India’s 100 unicorns have at least one founder from IIT

Sachin Bansal, Founder and Chairman of Navi Technologies. Picture courtesy: Chandra R Srikanth Navi Chairman Sachin Bansal's dream of making the company a banking entity has been brought to a halt after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it found the company's subsidiary unsuitable for a universal banking licence. The announcement from the RBI came when Bansal was addressing a press conference to announce the company's maiden issue of Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs). Bansal said it was not the end of the road and the company would also consider appealing RBI's decision. "We haven't received written communication from RBI yet. We are going to look at it once we get it, and then chart the next course of action. There are lots of options in front of us. It is not the end of the road for us. I mean, there are many things to explore including re-applying," he said. "We have to go back and analyse this. We will consider whether we want to appeal this and weigh our … [Read more...] about Sachin Bansal says not the end of the road after RBI rejects banking licence application

Razorpay Founders Shashank Kumar & Harshil Mathur B2B payments and neobanking platform Razorpay is looking to get new investors on board through a share sale of $75 million by its employees, the company said on May 10. The purchase will be led by Lightspeed Venture Partners along with participation from Moore Strategic Ventures who will subsequently join the company’s cap table. This will also be Razorpay’s fourth and largest Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) buyback till date, and the second largest in the startup space after Flipkart’s Rs 600 crore buyback in July 2021. 650 of the startup’s existing and former employees will be eligible for this across roles including software engineers, product managers, customer experience agents, sales, and administrative staff. In December 2021, Razorpay’s valuation had jumped from $1 billion to $7.5 billion after the startup raised $375 million in its largest round. In an interview with Moneycontrol, Razorpay’s founder and … [Read more...] about Lightspeed and Moore Strategic Ventures become investors in Razorpay by buying employee shares worth $75 mn

Vidit Aatrey, Founder & CEO, Meesho Sachin Bansal-led Navi has appointed Vidit Aatrey, the founder of social commerce platform Meesho, as an independent director on its board. Overall, the company has four independent directors on its board, including Aatrey. "With Mr. Aatrey’s appointment, independent directors now form a majority on Navi’s Board. Navi had recently also appointed three other independent directors - namely, Mr Abhijit Bose, Mr Shripad Shrikrishna Nadkarni, and Ms Usha A Narayanan," Navi said in a statement. Sachin Bansal had founded Flipkart in 2007 with Binny Bansal. The founders exited the company in 2018, and Flipkart was acquired by Walmart in the same year for $16 billion. Meesho competes with Flipkart, especially in the Tier-II and III markets. Moneycontrol had reported in November 2021 that Softbank-backed Meesho's rapid expansion and quality of execution had taken Flipkart by surprise, opening up a new battlefront in the e-commerce space in … [Read more...] about Sachin Bansal’s Navi appoints Meesho founder Vidit Aatrey as independent director