Indian food delivery platform Swiggy is reportedly planning to invest Rs52.5bn ($700m) in Instamart, its instant grocery delivery service, to strengthen its non-food delivery categories.
Established last year in Gurgaon and Bengaluru, Instamart is currently operating across several major Indian cities, including Ahmedabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad.
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It also operates in Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Pune, Vizag, Mumbai and Noida.
The company delivers a wide range of products such as fresh fruits, vegetables, daily bread, eggs, beverages and cooking essentials.
Instamart is competing with other delivery companies that have recently entered the Indian grocery delivery space, including Dunzo, Grofers, BigBasket and Zepto.
Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety said: “At our current growth trajectory, Instamart is set to reach an annualised gross merchandise value (GMV) run rate of $1bn in the next three quarters.
“With our food delivery business trending at a $3bn annualised GMV run rate, and Instamart’s super-charged growth, we’re very excited about our convenience mission coming to life in a very big way.”
In recent months, Instamart has delivered more than one million orders a week and onboarded more than one seller-run dark store a day.
The company plans to deliver orders in 15 minutes through its dark store network by next month.
In June, Swiggy and its partner Anra Technologies announced plans to start drone trials for food deliveries in India.
Anra’s flight team is using its SmartSkies technology to deliver food and medical packages in the Etah and Rupnagar districts in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
Swiggy is reportedly expected to receive around $700m in fresh capital at a valuation of $10bn over the coming weeks.
The company has so far raised more than $3.5bn in funding from various investors, including Prosus Ventures, Softbank, DST Global and Falcon Edge.
