Online food delivery firm Swiggy acquihires 48East

Online food delivery company Swiggy has acqui-hired gourmet food startup 48East. The Bengaluru-based firm is looking to broaden its senior leadership.

48East, founded in August 2016 by Joseph Cherian and Nabhojit Ghosh, provides Asian gourmet food at an affordable price to consumers. Both the founders will join Swiggy team to build the new business as part of the development. Cherian will take the role of chief operating officer (COO) for the vertical, which was launched last month with Swiggy Access, the delivery-only service in partnership with restaurants in new localities.

In August 2016, 48East had raised USD 2,50,000 in a round of angel funding from Agra-based ACPL exports. The company currently operates two kitchens in Indiranagar and Marathahalli and processes over 100 orders a day.

Earlier, Swiggy had brought on board Reckitt Benckiser’s Vishal Bhatia as the CEO for its new supply business.

“With their deep understanding of the food space and an impressive track record of delivering a great consumer experience, the 48East team will equip Swiggy with additional capabilities. We are excited to work with them towards our vision of changing the way India eats,” Sriharsha Majety, CEO of Swiggy, was quoted as saying to ET.

Swiggy revenue jumped 6 times to Rs 133 crore in FY17 from Rs 20 crore in 2016. as it has steadily been increasing order volumes across its platform to over 4 million per month. Meanwhile, the company's expenses also rose to Rs 345 crore along with the loss of around Rs 205 crore, an almost 50 percent.

Competition in food space

The Naspers-backed company is looking to streamline its operational efficiencies through FY18. The food delivery space has been witnessing fierce competition off late. Swiggy and Zomato seem to be contesting for the top position.

At present, Swiggy does about 4 million orders a month while Zomato processes about 3 million orders on a monthly basis. Zomato has also turned profitable in all geographies and to celebrate this feat, it announced a zero commission campaign for restaurant partners.

The food delivery market in India has just taken off and there is unprecedented scope for growth. According to research firm RedSeer, India’s online food delivery market comprising of aggregators and cloud kitchens grew at 150% last year, in comparison to 2015, with an estimated Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of $300 million in 2016.

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