After working on a logistics platform called Bundl which shut shop in 2014, Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy realised the potential of the hyperlocal space and wanted to do something bigger in this market. The initial buzz that the food tech had created along the hassle of ordering food and getting it delivered on time made the duo come up with Swiggy last year in August along with their third co founder Rahul Jaimani. “The general experience of ordering food and getting it delivered intact wasn’t as consistent as people would like it to be, that’s when we went out saying all the deliveries across neighbourhoods should be similar without hurdles like high minimum order,” says Nandan Reddy.
Backed by SAIF, Accel and Norwest Venture Partners, Swiggy has managed to raise $18.5 million so far. What differentiates Swiggy from their competitors is that they have their own fleet of delivery boys who are equipped with smartphones and the Swiggy app, which helps the user to track their delivery through routing algorithms. Since Swiggy has their own fleet of delivery boys, it does not have a minimum order policy. “We charge a commission from the restaurant and we charge a delivery fee from the customer. Users can order anything without worrying about the minimum order policy, they just have to pay delivery fee and get food delivered even if it costs only Rs 50. On orders which are higher than a certain amount we just take the commission from the restaurant,” adds Reddy.
Swiggy competes with Zomato, Tinyowl and Foodpanda and claims to be more reliable and faster than its competitors. “Our average delivery time is close to 37 minutes and this is what makes us stand apart. The reason why people prefer Domino’s is mainly because their delivery time is just 30 minutes which no one is able to catch up with in the last 10-15 years. Similarly 37 minutes is a differentiating factor for us in this space,” says Reddy. He also spoke about Swiggy Express, their new initiative which is in a pilot stage currently. “The aim is to deliver food within 15-20 minutes. We get food from our partnered restaurants put them in hot boxes and once the order comes it will be
dispatched directly, making sure hot food reaches our customers within 15-20 minutes,” adds Reddy. He also mentioned that they are looking at partnering with few beverage chains to deliver coffee and tea.
The Bengaluru-based startup exists in six cities already and will be launching their services in Chennai soon. Going forward it will expand to four more cities including Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. However, the main challenge for them, according to Reddy would be to scale 100x from where they are along with ensuring better services, quality and time of delivery. He also mentioned that initially restaurants were a lot ore skeptical about their model and convincing them still remains to be a problem which has improved to a greater extent.