Swiggy Labs: Incubating Zero-to-One Categories Inside a Scaled Marketplace
Built and led Swiggy's internal incubator to launch zero-to-one categories including Instamart, Swiggy Genie, and other industry-first offerings.
- Zero-to-One Product
- Internal Incubation
- New Category Launch
- Quick Commerce
- Product Leadership
Anuj Rathi
Co-founder and CEO at profound.me
From their time as
VP Product, Storefront, Revenue and Growth
Swiggy • 2016 - 2021
Overview
Anuj built Swiggy's zero-to-one incubation capability from scratch, starting with the Edge team and evolving it into Swiggy Labs. The function launched Instamart, one of India's first quick commerce verticals integrated inside a food delivery app, along with Swiggy Genie, alcohol delivery, and other industry-first offerings.
The Story
Anuj recognized early in his Swiggy tenure that the company's growth would eventually require new category bets beyond food delivery. He started the Edge team as an internal incubation unit, a small group tasked with exploring and launching zero-to-one products.
Over time, the Edge team evolved into Swiggy Labs, a more formal incubation function with its own mandate, team, and operating model. Anuj ran Swiggy Labs alongside his core consumer revenue and growth responsibilities.
The most significant output of this function was Instamart, one of India's first quick commerce verticals integrated inside a food delivery app. Instamart represented a fundamentally different supply chain and user behavior model from food delivery, and launching it required building new operational and product capabilities from scratch.
Swiggy Labs also incubated Swiggy Genie, a hyperlocal delivery service, alcohol delivery, and other category expansions. Each required a distinct go-to-market approach and a different set of supply-side relationships.
Anuj ran both the incubation function and the core consumer revenue and growth product simultaneously, managing the tension between protecting the core and investing in new bets.
Ownership Snapshot
Broad role
VP Product and later SVP, owning both the core consumer product and the zero-to-one incubation function at Swiggy.
Goal
Build a repeatable internal capability for launching new categories and businesses within Swiggy's marketplace.
Direct ownership
Owned the Edge team and later Swiggy Labs, the internal incubator that launched Instamart, Swiggy Genie, and other new verticals.
Team execution
Built and led the incubation team, working across product, engineering, and business to take new categories from idea to market.