Ride-hailing platform Rapido has created buzz across the food delivery space with the announcement to launch ‘Ownly’. Since then, there has been speculation over its possible impact on the Swiggy-Zomato duo. Speaking about the same, Swiggy founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety recently stated that the company remains “super agile and paranoid”.
He even said Swiggy will not hesitate to act if Rapido spots an opportunity in the food delivery market. “There were a dozen players in food delivery in 2015. In 2017, Uber and Ola threw their hat into the ring. Then, in 2019, Amazon threw its hat into the ring. In 2021, there was the entry of ONDC,” he said while acknowledging that the space is not easy to crack.
“Credit to us and Zomato for having seen these…and I genuinely think we do a pretty good job of serving the consumer. It is not easy to get an opening that you can take a home run with,” Majety added.
His remarks came in response to a question on whether Rapido’s foray could disrupt the food delivery ecosystem. Majety was speaking at an investor event hosted by Prosus in London.
“It will be interesting to see if there is an alternate take to food delivery that can grow the category because we are waiting for some more growth as well. If we see a new opening, we are going to be all over it. We are not going to wait and watch,” the Swiggy founder said.
It is pertinent to note that Swiggy currently holds approximately 15% of Rapido and Prosus is a common investor in both new-age companies.
Quick Commerce - A Growing Opportunity
Swiggy CEO further spoke about the rising opportunity in quick commerce market. He believes that the quick commerce market is heaed for $30 billion to $40 billion size in the next three to five years. “This size can support more than two players, but it is unlikely that it can support five to six players,” he said.
He added that Instamart, Swiggy’s quick commerce arm, is targeting overall contribution margin breakeven sometime between October and December 2025. According to Majety, this goal will be driven by the expansion of a “significant number” of dark stores over the next four months.
A report had earlier also anticipated that India’s quick commerce market is expected to grow by more than 40% annually until 2030. This growth will be driven by expansion into new product categories, regions, and customer segments.
However, the space is becoming more competitive with the entry of new players such as Flipkart Minutes, Myntra’s M-now, BigBasket’s BB Now, and Amazon’s Tez.
The report also identified three key factors, including high-order density, basket size expansion, and operational cost efficiencies, that have helped unlock profitability from quick commerce platforms.
