Startup story of Swiggy: India's fastest Unicorn Company

Swiggy is one of the few names that come to our mind while thinking of a food ordering site. Besides creating a separate identity in our minds, Swiggy has also become the fastest Indian company to achieve Unicorn status (a startup company valued at over $1 billion) within four years. But this recognition and unique identity of Swiggy is not made in one day. There is a startup story behind Swiggy. So in this write up, we will tell you the startup story of a premiere food delivering platform-Swiggy. We hope that this story motivates you to achieve great milestones.

Swiggy is the result of the hard work and dedication of three friends: Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini. Three had failed in their previous ventures and decided to come up with an online food delivery app. But this was not an easy task.

Sriharsha and Nandan, two IIT graduates, had already failed in their previous venture, 'Bundl.' We all know how complicated it is to get up after falling. But the two cleared the first stage and collaborated with a software engineer, Rahul. The three put their respective skills and finally came up with Swiggy in 2014.

Swiggy's launch was only the first step. The three had to climb other stairs also. In the initial years, Swiggy witnessed a lot of hardships. Would you give work to a new firm? Not. The same went with Swiggy. The primary task for the founders was to convince the restaurants and hotels to join Swiggy. The competition from already established food distributing startups like FoodPanda and Zomato was also to be tackled.

But the Swiggy founders didn't give up; they played smart. They found out the loopholes in the competitors' strategy. The three decided to build a proper logistics network. It was done by providing their delivery boys. The hard work and the innovation worked well. Gradually, Swiggy was able to work swiftly and started generating good revenues. The investors and Swiggy observed this got its first significant funding. Accel and SAIF Partners made investments worth $2 Million.

Then there was no stopping to the growth of this startup. Swiggy further received two venture capitals. In 2015 Swiggy had managed to get over 70k orders every month and collaborating with over 100 restaurants.

The success of Swiggy as a startup can be attributed to the following factors:

• Excellent logistics: Logistics refers to the overall process of managing the acquiring, storing, and transportation of resources. One major factor throughout the journey of Swiggy was the focus on logistics. Unlike its competitors that were engaged in furnishing merely the app, Swiggy gave priority to the supply chain. Swiggy was successful in decoding the right way to gain customers in the food delivery market. Instead of handing over the delivery to either restaurants or third-party providers, Swiggy took control of delivery itself. This strategy was copied by its competitors also.
• Understanding the market needs: the makers of Swiggy reveal that understanding the market needs is very important for the success of your startup. When they launched this app, they had understood that online food startups are booming, and these can gain support from Indian customers. They had realized that there was a need for a convenient food supply in the Indian market. The makers well understood this need.
• A skilled team: it is a famous proverb that one and one make eleven. Swiggy makers also knew this fact. The three makers were specialized in different fields. CEO of Swiggy, Sriharsha Shetty, was a student at IIM and an alumnus of BITS Pilani. The co-founder of Swiggy, Nandan Reddy, has completed his studies at Birla Institute of Technology and science. In contrast, Co-founder Rahul Jamini, IIT alumni, had worked in Myntra and Netapp. The vision and the skills of the three helped them work in their specialized fields and grow their startup.
• Unique strategies: uniqueness is something that almost every one of us likes. Swiggy's unique strategies were also an important factor in its success. Unlike its competitors, Swiggy does not have a policy of minimum ordering. Besides this, it also accepts online payment, which is another bonus point for the site in lockdown and social distancing.

The dedication & hard work of the Swiggy founders have earned a name and recognition to this food delivering platform. The success can be measured because it had started with just five delivery boys, but now it is employing more than twenty thousand workers all across India.

The success story of Swiggy reflects that if you are determined and hardworking, nothing can stop you from achieving success. The three makers of the app were ordinary persons like us, but still, they managed to do something extraordinary. Everyone of us can learn from them and set our goals to achieve success. But besides that, we should also work hard and stay determined.