Baron Capital slashes Swiggy’s valuation yet again to $6.38 billion

Baron Capital had marked down Swiggy’s valuation by 34% to $7.1 billion as of December 2022, which ET reported on May 16.

Now, latest documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by Baron on May 25 show that Swiggy’s fair value has been reduced further.

In the filings made for the period ended March 31, 2023, Baron Capital valued its holding in Swiggy at $45,758,616, down from $50,924,652 as of December 31, 2022.

Baron had participated in Swiggy’s January 2022 funding round, when Swiggy raised $700 million at a valuation of $10.7 billion.

On May 9, ET had reported that the lead investor of the round, Invesco had slashed the food-delivery company’s valuation by 33% to $5.5 billion from $8.2 billion, having already lowered it from $10.7 billion earlier.

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Invesco had said in the filing it revises its value based on market condition and how the competitors in the space are valued.Swiggy’s archrival Zomato, which is publicly listed, has seen a significant fall in its share price since its listing and is currently valued at around $6.9 billion.

Several other late-stage startups have also seen their valuations being revised by US institutional investors in recent months. They include edtech platform Byju’s, fintech company Pine Labs, online pharmacy PharmEasy, and mobility company Ola. These companies saw their valuations being marked down by asset managers and investors such as BlackRock, Vanguard, Invesco, Neuberger Berman and Janus Henderson.

The latest cut in Swiggy’s valuation comes at a time when the food delivery platform is facing a slowdown in its core business. The SoftBank-backed company has laid off 380 employees so far this year.

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Swiggy has also shut down some of its businesses like meat and gourmet grocery delivery business Handpicked.

The company is also seeing changes and exits at the top with senior vice president and head of its quick commerce business Karthik Gurumurthy stepping aside and cofounder Phani Kishan taking over. Chief technology officer Dale Vaz also left the company recently.

Baron Capital’s mark down of Swiggy’s valuation was first reported by financial portal Moneycontrol.