Swiggy Faces Valuation Slump as Baron Capital Slashes Investment Value by 34%

Swiggy is hit by Investor Downgrade as Baron Capital reduces its valuation by 34%. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Baron Capital, an asset management firm based in the US, has devalued Swiggy, a major player in the foodtech industry, by 34 percent, bringing its valuation to $7.3 billion as of December 2022. The investor acquired 11,578 shares for $76.8 million.

In January of the previous year, Baron Capital joined an investment round in which Swiggy secured $700 million in funding. The investment was led by Invesco which is a US-based investment firm. It included participation from Baron Capital, Sumeru Venture, IIFL, and other investors.

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This news follows closely after Invesco reduced the valuation of Swiggy, the foodtech giant, to approximately $5.5 billion.

Swiggy, the food delivery giant, has been implementing cost-cutting measures and divesting non-viable business verticals in order to achieve profitability. These actions are believed to be in preparation for the company’s upcoming stock market debut. As part of these efforts, Swiggy discontinued its premium grocery delivery pilot program, Handpicked, which was operational in various areas of Bengaluru. Additionally, the company closed down its meat marketplace vertical in January and conducted a company-wide restructuring, resulting in the layoffs of 380 employees.

In recent months, various tech unicorn companies have experienced significant reductions in their valuations, and Swiggy is no exception. One such example is the edtech giant BYJU’S, which saw its valuation slashed by nearly 50 percent to $11.5 billion by US-based asset manager BlackRock just a month ago.

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Despite the challenging market conditions, travel tech company OYO is preparing for its IPO; however, its valuation has been significantly reduced. OYO’s valuation dropped from $12 billion to $6.5 billion after its key investor, SoftBank, devalued its stake in the start-up. Similarly, ANI Technologies, the parent company of Ola, experienced a valuation cut of 35 percent by US-based investor Vanguard, reducing its value to $4.8 billion compared to its previous valuation of $7.4 billion.

According to recent filings, Neuberger Berman, a US-based company, has devalued fintech firm Pine Labs and medtech start-up PharmEasy by 21.6 percent and 39 percent respectively.