As losses widen, Swiggy can’t peg its future to quick commerce

On June 27, Prosus—foodtech major Swiggy’s biggest backer—filed its annual report. In it, the global consumer internet group offered a glimpse into Bengaluru-based Swiggy’s performance for the year ended December 2022.

In 2022, Prosus, which holds a 32.83% stake in Swiggy, stated that its share of the startup’s overall losses stood at $180 million. This is an 80% rise from the previous calendar year, where its share of overall losses stood at $100 million. Extrapolating based on Prosus’ holdings and share of losses, this puts Swiggy’s losses for the period at $548.2 million—up from $305 million in the year prior. Prosus attributes Swiggy’s widening losses to the company investing more heavily than ever before in its quick commerce business, Instamart.

Swiggy’s focus on Instamart has shown results. Instamart is inarguably the startup's fastest-growing vertical. Its gross merchandise value (GMV) grew 459% year-on-year, far outstripping the 26% GMV growth in Swiggy’s core food delivery business.