Market regulator SEBI greenlighted food delivery aggregator Swiggy’s Initial Public Offer (IPO), post which the IPO papers were made public on Thursday night. The Draft Red Herring Prospectus throws up three very important areas where Swiggy lags its arch rival and now listed Zomato.

Here are the key factors:

Operational Metrics

Swiggy’s food delivery business has reached a turnaround stage after having begun nearly a decade earlier. However, for the financial year 2024, Swiggy’s Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) was still in the negative, while Zomato reported its adjusted EBITDA worth nearly ₹1,000 crore. Swiggy’s monthly transaction users and contribution margins too are lower when compared to Zomato.

Growth In Quick Commerce

Zomato’s Quick Commerce business has grown by leaps and bounds post the acquisition of Blinkit, so much so that many analysts on the street are valuing it higher compared to its core business.

While Swiggy has nearly the same number of dark stores as Zomato did at the end of financial year 2024, its Gross Order Value lags that of Blinkit and its contribution margin too is still in the negative.

For the full financial year 2024, lets take a look at how Swiggy fared on a consolidated basis in comparison to Zomato.

For the first quarter of financial year 2025, Zomato continued on the profitability path with a net profit of ₹253 crore, while Swiggy’s net loss widened to well over ₹600 crore.

Cash On The Books

Even when it comes to having cash on the books, Zomato has far more cash compared to Swiggy at the end of the previous financial year.

Zomato had cash worth ₹12,241 crore on its books. In comparison, Swiggy had cash worth ₹5,446 crore on the books at the end of financial year 2024.

For cash on the books at the end of the June quarter, Swiggy’s cash was significantly down to ₹2,038.1 crore, while Zomato’s cash balance stood at ₹12,539 crore.

Having listed in 2021, Zomato’s shares fell to an all-time low of ₹40, but have since gained over 7x from those levels. Swiggy is yet to determine its price band.