Ola, Magicpin enter rapid food-delivery race

Ola has revamped its defunct Ola Dash into a 10-minute food delivery service in Bengaluru. Magicpin, which claims to be India’s third-largest food delivery app, also unveiled its MagicNow service on Tuesday, joining the growing wave of companies entering the rapid food delivery space.

Ola Dash is currently operational only in Bengaluru, offering discounts on food orders, and waiving off delivery charges. The platform features restaurants such as Eatfit, Freshmenu, BowlSoul, and GreenCraving, among others. Originally launched in 2022 as a quick commerce service, Ola Dash was shut down in June of the same year, to refocus on the mobility business, reportedly due to low demand.

Meanwhile, MagicNow is expected to operate within a 1.5-2 km radius and provide 15-minute deliveries across metro cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, and Delhi-NCR. The service has been launched following a month-long pilot (November 14 – December 15) in select areas of NCR and Bengaluru.

Instead of building its fleet, MagicNow will leverage Velocity, an in-house aggregator that partners with third-party logistics providers like Shadowfax and Dunzo.

Unlike competitors such as Swish, MagicNow will not rely on dark stores. The company will focus on deliveries exclusively from established brands. Magicpin recently also joined the Open Network for Digital Commerce.

The race for dominance in India’s rapid food delivery segment is heating up. This battle officially kicked off in October with Swiggy's launch of Bolt, followed by the launch of Zomato Bistro this month, and now, Ola Dash and MagicNow have joined the fray.

"We started Bolt only in 6 cities in October. Bolt has been one of Swiggy's fastest executions in terms of concept. The service has been scaled to over 400 cities and it now offers more than 10 lakh menu items, usually those that require no or minimal preparation time. Swiggy's 10-minute food delivery service, already accounts for 5% of its total food delivery orders, within just two months of its launch. We see it touching 10% of all food delivery orders at some point in the near term," said Sidharth Bhakoo, chief business officer, Food Marketplace, Swiggy.

Zepto Café has reportedly been operational since its launch in 2022, but it was only this month announced as a separate app.

Not long ago, even 30-minute food delivery by pizza giants like Domino's and Pizza Hut seemed ambitious. Today, food tech entrepreneurs are racing to prioritise speed, especially in Tier-1 metros like Bengaluru, where demand is driven by a growing number of startups and a young workforce.

In this segment, Zomato and Zepto offer 10-minute delivery services through dedicated apps, while Swiggy and Ola have integrated these services into their main platforms. Meanwhile established players face stiff competition with newcomers like Bengaluru-based Swish, which have been backed by Accel Partners.

Interestingly, like Ola, Zomato launched its Zomato Instant service in 2023 but later shut it down, citing profitability challenges. This highlights the tough dynamics of the rapid food delivery industry.

Positioned at the intersection of quick commerce and food delivery, companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, and Zepto are expected to benefit from their first-mover advantage. Zomato and Swiggy command over 80% of India’s food delivery market. In quick commerce, Zomato’s Blinkit leads with a 40% market share, while Zepto and Swiggy each hold around 30%.

The turbulence in the delivery space reflects the growing consumer demand for faster deliveries, with expectations now extending to other categories like apparel and electronics.