Swiggy Mulls Divesting Stake In Rapido Amid Its Food Delivery Foray

Amid the entry of Rapido in the food delivery segment, Swiggy is mulling divesting its stake in the ride-hailing unicorn.

In its Q1 shareholders’ letter, Swiggy said that its stake of about 12% in Rapido has appreciated significantly since its investment, but it is now “actively re-evaluating” the investment due to the entry of the startup in its bread-and-butter food delivery industry. 

“Rapido, one of our investee companies, has announced their intention to enter the food delivery space. Having scaled up from a bike-taxi player to a full-fledged mobility platform,  Rapido is now the largest mobility player in India by rides, and has been a disruptor in its space. As a shareholder, we are extremely happy with their success and value-creation; but do acknowledge a potential conflict of interest that may arise in the future,” the company said.

It is pertinent to mention that Swiggy invested around $124 Mn in Rapido in its Series D round in 2022. 

At a time when it is investing aggressively to expand its quick commerce business, Swiggy said  that potential monetisation of its investment in Rapido will also allow it to increase its cash balance. However, the company didn’t give a timeline for divestment plans and said it will share more details as things progress. 

Swiggy’s net loss climbed 96% year on year (YoY) and 11% quarter on quarter (QoQ) to INR 1,197 Cr in the first quarter of FY26. Operating revenue surged 54% to INR 4,961 Cr from INR 3,222 Cr in the year-ago period. Sequentially, this marked a 12% increase from INR 4,410 Cr. 

Notably, Rapido entered the food delivery segment with Ownly in June this year to compete with Eternal and Swiggy. 

Responding to a question on the competition in food delivery, Swiggy said, “Food delivery continues to attract new competition, with new players or models trying to enter this high-frequency, high customer-intent category every year. The key question is what will new competition unlock for the consumer which we are not already doing at scale. Many of the new offerings we have created (including on affordability) and will continue to roll out, will be towards ensuring that competition does not get a clear opening.” 

It also assured the shareholders that it would be super agile and make sure it participates if there is a new model that can unlock incremental growth. 

Swiggy also noted that many of its recent and upcoming offerings, particularly those focused on affordability, are aimed at making sure the competition doesn’t get a clear runway.