Food tech giant Swiggy is acquiring Times-backed Dineout and has already engaged in early talks for the same. Currently, it is said that the food tech platform is planning for either a complete or partial buyout of the restaurant and table booking company.

The talks with Swiggy had begun two months prior to the discussion with Cred that landed a valuation of $ 25 to 50 million.

Although the size of the potential deal is still kept under wraps, the talks are now in preliminary stages with due diligence underway.

Dineout was started in 2012 by Mehrotra, Nikhil Bakshi, Sahil Jain, and Vivek Kapoor, and was acquired by Times Internet in 2014 for an estimated 60 crore through its TimesCity platform.

If the deal with Dineout goes through, Swiggy may be following the route taken by Zomato, for offering more of a 360-degree ecosystem for restaurants, said Samir Kuckreja, founder and chief executive officer of Tasanaya Hospitality, a boutique consulting firm, which also functions as a transaction advisory for restaurants.

Kuckreja mentioned that Dineout offers a point-of-sale (PoS) system that is extensively used by restaurants, as well as a loyalty program and a table reservation system. Swiggy may acquire these technologies, people, and customers who are already using these platforms as a result of the acquisition.

Gourmet Passport, a membership app that provides access to complimentary food, drinks, and buffets, was acquired by Dineout. Torqus, a cloud-based point-of-sale company, was also bought.

In 2018, the company paid an undisclosed sum for inResto Services, a restaurant management system. The system enables restaurants to digitize their ordering and loyalty programs. EazyDiner, which was created in 2014 for the national capital region, competes with Dineout.

On the other hand, Times Internet is a digital products company and the Times Group's digital venture. MagicBricks is an online real estate listings portal, Gaana is a music streaming service, and ETMoney is a personal financial platform.

Swiggy, which is sponsored by SoftBank and overseen by asset management firm Invesco, raised $700 million in January, nearly doubling its valuation from its previous fund round to $10.7 billion.

The company said at the time that its food delivery business had nearly doubled in gross order value in the previous year, and that the new capital would help it accelerate growth on its core platform as well as make new investments in its hyperlocal delivery Instamart.

“If Swiggy was to go down this path, they would be trying to be a food and beverage solutions provider across the industry in different areas and not just a delivery aggregator. Zomato has done this for many years and even ended up shutting down some verticals that did not work," Kuckreja adds.