The past calendar year was a very occurrence one for the food-tech industry in India. According to investigate and consult company Red Seer, the sector posted triple-digit growth for the third-year running and players in the space prolonged their footprint like never before. From a presence in just around 15 cities a year back, food-tech platforms prolonged to over 100 cities in 2018 and about 30% of their orders now come from non-core markets.
Amid this speedy development, the sector has a new kingpin: Swiggy. The Bengaluru-based startup, run by Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd emerged on top in trust and purchaser satisfaction in a food-tech survey by Red Seer, Mint reported. The latest version of the Red Seer FoodTech Leadership Index (FLI) ranks Swiggy at the 1st place with a total score of 96 in the fourth quarter of 2018. Its arch-rival Zomato came in second with a score of 82. At a third place on the rankings is Uber Eats followed by Ola's Food panda.
The Red Seer review measured over 20 parameters across three broad categories namely most favored or trusted brand for online consumers, the maximum value for money along with a meaningful collection, and best buying experience from restaurant delivery to post-delivery experience. An overall score was assigned to each firm after weighing all the parameters.
According to the daily, Swiggy outscored Zomato by the widest margin – 22 vs. 10 – on the parameters connecting to trust, which measure aspects such as top-of-the-mind recall and without help recall, among others. It also fared better in terms of best user knowledge, starting from exploring and ordering dishes to cancellation, customer support and overall net promoter score, a key customer approval metric based on how likely customers are to propose a brand or company.
In terms of value for money, all the top four food-tech startups were more or less at par. The Red Seer examination talked to over 900 customers across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, and Kolkata.
This latest feather in Swiggy's cap comes less than a month after it raised $1 billion in its series H funding round – the largest-ever in the food-tech sector. The round was led by existing shareholder Naspers along with DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Management, while new investors like Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, and Wellington Management business also participated in it. With this round, the startup's assessment allegedly mushroomed five times to $3.3 billion in just one calendar year. To date, Swiggy has raised a total of $1.26 billion.
While Zomato has also been building up its war chest, it is covering behind Swiggy having supposedly raised $653.8 million so far. In February, Ant, popularly known as Alipay, had invested $200 million in Zomato, propelling it into the desi unicorn club. Swiggy had followed just four months later.
