Swiggy’s Q1 Snapshot, Sarvam Widens AI Horizon & More

Swiggy Marches Closer To Profitability In Q1

Swiggy inched closer to profitability in Q1. During the quarter, its core food delivery vertical continued to grow despite margin pressure, the quick commerce arm hit a crucial breakeven milestone and new bets like Toing continued to expand Swiggy’s addressable market. 

Here is a quick recap of Swiggy’s Q1 FY27 results:

• Net loss narrowed by nearly 34% YoY to ₹791 Cr 
• Operating revenue rose 36.8% YoY to ₹6,812 Cr
• Expenses jumped 25% YoY to ₹7,813 Cr
• Consolidated adjusted EBITDA loss improved 20% YoY to ₹651 Cr

Instamart Hits Breakeven: The standout development of Swiggy’s Q1 was Instamart achieving contribution margin breakeven. The turnaround was fuelled by stronger monetisation, average revenue per order rising to ₹108 and a deliberate decision to shed over 4 Mn unprofitable users. On the operational front, the quick commerce arm added 28 dark stores during the quarter, expanding its network of 1,171 stores across 131 cities. 

The Margin Headwinds: Swiggy’s core food delivery business continued to see healthy YoY growth. However, operational disruptions from LPG supply shortages, seasonal monsoons, annual salary hikes and higher delivery partner investments temporarily compressed adjusted EBITDA margins and profitability.

Nevertheless, management reiterated its medium-term guidance of 18–20% GOV growth despite rising competition and entry of zero-commission players.

The Bigger Battle: Beyond its main verticals, Swiggy said that it continues to invest in new formats like affordable food delivery app Toing and concierge platform Crew, which broadened the company’s reach in Q1. However, both remained loss-making entities. But what took the cake was Swiggy’s supply chain and distribution arm, which saw losses shrink sharply to ₹8 Cr while revenues soared to ₹3,195 Cr. 

As the foodtech giant bets on scale, assortment and better unit economics for its next stage of growth, here is how Swiggy fared on the financial front in Q1…

From The Editor’s Desk

Sarvam’s Widening AI Horizon

• At its inaugural developer conference, the AI unicorn said that it will roll out a trillion-parameter AI model within six months. It also launched an India-hosted inference service and unveiled new products across speech, vision and coding.
• Signalling plans to expand its global footprint, Sarvam also announced the opening of an office in San Francisco and appointed Devendra Singh Chaplot, who was part of the founding teams at Mistral AI and Thinking Machines Lab, as an advisor.
• The AI giant also unveiled a new AI coding agent for engineering teams, Sarvam Code. Sarvam claimed that its new offering spent about $2 for every task it solved, while similar coding agents from Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex spent up to $27.8. 

HomeLane’s Next Leap

• HomeLane started a decade ago to fix the fragmented home interior market. From barely one project a week in its early days, the home interiors platform today delivers nearly 1,000 projects a month and operates 90 stores across 45+ cities. 
• HomeLane’s secret sauce has been its deliberate decision to put the entire customer journey under one roof. This, combined with its manufacturing partnerships, has enabled the startup to offer fixed pricing, transparency and on-time delivery schedules.
• Operating in the $30 Bn Indian home interiors market, the startup is now focusing on streamlining operations and improving unit economics. It has set eyes on crossing ₹1,000 Cr in revenue and achieving sustained EBITDA profitability in FY27.

Zepto Puts IPO On Hold

• Locked in negotiations with investors over its IPO valuation, the quick commerce major has put its public listing plans on hold for now. Meanwhile, it has now begun work on raising ₹1,000 Cr via a pre-IPO round from existing backers.
• This comes a day after reports surfaced that Zepto’s investors were valuing the startup at less than $3 Bn, significantly below the company’s expectations. Backers are said to be skeptical about the startup’s cash burn, mounting losses and flat revenues.
• Zepto is not the first startup that has postponed its IPO plans this year. Earlier, cloud kitchen startup Curefoods and fintech major PhonePe put its listing plans on hold amid weak market conditions.

Sid’s Farm Nets ₹81 Cr

• The dairy startup has raised around $8.5 Mn in its pre-Series B round from existing and new backers to strengthen its supply chain, expand its manufacturing and distribution capabilities, launch new products and expand into new markets.
• Founded in 2016, Sid’s Farm sells premium milk and dairy products through a subscription-led model. With two processing units in Telangana, it claims to have so far served more than 50,000 families. It reported a revenue of ₹168 Cr in FY25.
• Sid’s Farm competes with the likes of new-age brands like Country Delight, Akshayakalpa and Heritage Foods. It operates in the broader Indian dairy market, which is projected to become a $45 Bn opportunity by 2031.

The Ownly Alternative

• Rapido’s food delivery platform appears to be denting the fortunes of Swiggy and Zomato. On the back of its zero commission model, Ownly claims to have cornered nearly 10% of Bengaluru’s online food delivery market within four months. 
• This comes as the city’s restaurateurs have escalated their standoff with Swiggy over commissions and set an August 15 deadline for a resolution. NRAI claims that up to 35% commissions and additional charges have severely squeezed restaurant margins.
• To up the ante, Ownly has signed an MoU with NRAI and is using the partnership to deepen engagement and expand beyond Bengaluru. But the bigger battle for the new entrant is to curb the rivals’ logistics network, restaurant depth and brand recall.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Aigenc Make Marketing More Predictable?

Brands continue to spend more on digital ads than ever, but most campaigns still rely on scattered data and post-launch guesswork. Aigenc wants to change this by using AI to study what actually works, generate better creative and predict campaign performance.

The AI Martech Stack: Founded earlier this year, Aigenc’s AI tools offer brands a clearer view of their digital ad funnel. The platform analyses past campaigns, maps what drives performance and then plugs those insights into forecasting workflows, so teams can plan, test and launch ads with more confidence.

The Creative Angle: The startup trains its platform on a client’s own ad history, then breaks campaigns into specific performance drivers such as hooks, format and creator type. It then uses those patterns to generate new concepts, scripts and creatives. The system then scores ideas before launch, flagging weak concepts early so teams can refine them before campaigns go live.

Prioritising Human Judgment: Aigenc’s platform is designed to support strategy, creative, growth and influencer teams rather than replace them. Human operators review the AI’s output, add context and take campaigns live end-to-end. This makes Aigenc less of a content generator and more of a decision layer for modern marketing teams trying to move faster.

With the global AI-in-marketing market projected to cross $82 Bn by 2030, can Aigenc become the go-to marketing layer for brands?

Infographic Of The Day

India’s second fintech IPO wave looks very different from the first. This time, profitability isn’t optional but the ticket to Dalal Street. From PhonePe to Navi, here’s where India’s biggest fintech IPO contenders stand on the financial front…

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