Swiggy Submits IPO Draft Papers Via SEBI's Confidential Filing Route

According to sources familiar with the matter, food tech giant Swiggy has submitted confidential documents to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO). This filing allows the company to maintain confidentiality about its business details, unlike the standard procedure where the entire draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) is made public upon submission to the market regulator. Introduced in November 2022, this filing route grants a longer validity period of 18 months from SEBI's observations on the confidential draft prospectus.

The move follows Swiggy's shareholder approval for its USD 1.25 billion IPO, with plans to raise up to Rs 3,750 crore through a fresh issue and up to Rs 6,664 crore through an offer-for-sale (OFS) component. A media house previously reported these fundraising intentions. Additionally, Swiggy aims to secure around Rs 750 crore from anchor investors ahead of the IPO, slated for earlier this year, according to past regulatory filings.
Swiggy's decision to opt for confidential filing makes it the second major startup to do so after Oyo, backed by SoftBank, paved the way last year. Notably, Tata Play (formerly Tata Sky) was among the earliest adopters of this route.

Despite recording a USD 207 million loss for the nine months leading to December 2023, Swiggy reported substantial revenue of USD 1.02 billion during the same period, as previously disclosed. In the fiscal year 2022-23, its revenue surged by 45 per cent to Rs 8,625 crore, accompanied by a widened net loss of Rs 4,179 crore, according to the company's annual filings. In comparison, rival Zomato witnessed a 66 per cent rise in revenue to Rs 7,761 crore during FY23, with a narrowed net loss of Rs 971 crore. Despite Zomato's profitability over the past three quarters and a valuation exceeding USD 20 billion as of 26 April, Swiggy's last valuation stood at USD 10.7 billion following a USD 700 million funding round in January 2022.

Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy's co-founder and Group CEO, emphasized earlier this year that IPO preparations were underway, underscoring his engagement with the founders of listed companies to align operations with the standards of publicly traded firms.