The quick food delivery company plans to expand its neighbourhood kitchen network and enter new urban markets, with a target of more than 1,000 kitchens over five years
Swish, a quick food delivery company, has secured USD 24 million in fresh funding, with Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) leading the round. Existing backers Accel, Bain Capital Ventures and Hara Global also participated in the round.
The company will direct the proceeds towards increasing its kitchen footprint, building out its supply chain and expanding into additional cities. Swish currently serves customers across Bengaluru, Gurugram, Noida, Delhi and Ghaziabad, covering around 50 pincodes through its neighbourhood kitchen network.
Swish said its monthly order volumes have increased threefold since March, taking the platform past the one-million monthly order mark. The company owns and manages the key parts of its operations, including its kitchens, technology platform and last-mile delivery.
Its kitchens are designed to serve customers within an average radius of one kilometre, while food preparation takes less than four minutes on average. The platform has more than 250 stock-keeping units across over 20 food categories. Lunch and dinner now contribute more orders than snacks and late-night consumption, it said.
“Since March, our monthly orders have tripled and are now serving over a million orders a month while barely covering 50 pincodes today…Our ambition is to make fresh, delicious food at the best prices available to 100 million consumers and capture a large share of the USD 100 billion food services opportunity.” said Aniket Shah, co-founder and CEO, Swish.
Swish intends to expand its operations in markets where it is already present while adding new urban locations. It is targeting a network of more than 1,000 kitchens over the next five years.
BII said it sees an opportunity in the everyday food segment amid shifts in consumption patterns, urbanisation, smaller households and greater demand for convenience. “Everyday food is the biggest under-served category in Indian consumption, and it has remained that way because no one has managed freshness, affordability and convenience at the same time,” said Pankaj Makkar, managing director, Bertelsmann India Investments.
The company was founded by Aniket Shah, Ujjwal Sukheja and Saran S. Its neighbourhood kitchens have separate preparation, cooking and assembly stations aimed at reducing fulfilment times. Swish said over 80 per cent of its orders reach customers within 15 minutes.
