When Lionel Messi lands in Kolkata this December, as part of a three-city India tour, a Bengaluru-based startup founder said that he won’t be scrambling for tickets or hoping to get a glimpse of the Argentine footballer.

“I will be meeting him in flesh and blood,” he said with a smug.

Forging his confidence is a concierge services provider that leverages its network, power and influence to provide the founder with what he desires the most.

Front-row Coldplay concert passes: Check

Last-minute reservations at exclusive resorts: Check

Private Jet: Hmmm… Check

As India’s wealthiest increasingly seek not just goods but experiences — personalised, rare, and otherwise inaccessible — a new generation of lifestyle management startups is emerging to serve their whims and fancies.

Swiggy, too, is in the game. Last month (in June), it introduced Crew, to foray into travel and lifestyle concierge service.

Now, before we understand Swiggy’s play, here’s a brief history lesson…

The word ‘concierge’ comes from comte des cierges, a French phrase, which means the keeper of the candles. In the Middle Ages, concierges were trusted officials in castles, tasked with managing guest arrangements and ensuring everything ran smoothly behind the scenes.

As centuries passed, the role made its way into the hospitality industry, where luxury hotels positioned concierges as indispensable aides, capable of fulfilling a guest’s request, from carrying luggage to arranging impossible-to-get reservations.

In recent years, the concept of concierge has evolved far beyond the lobby. Today, these services are managed by standalone lifestyle management platforms that offer deeply personalised assistance to high-net-worth individuals.

What was once a luxury hotel perk is now a full-service, always-on-demand model designed to serve the ultra-rich. Imperative to mention that India had more than 13.2 Lakh millionaires as of 2024. This number is expected to double by 2030, according to reports by Credit Suisse and Oxfam.

The country is also expected to add over 6,500 ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNIs) — those with net assets over $30 Mn — by 2027, as per Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2024.

Not to mention, this class of users, comprising founders of well-funded startups and legacy industrialists, are famished for experience, as material goods won’t gratify them anymore.

They demand access to VIP events, celebrity meet-and-greets, private islands, Michelin-star dining, or custom wellness retreats.

Swiggy wants to dip its toe into this pool, alongside startups like Indulge Global, Pinch and RedBerryl, which promise to offer more than just luxury.

To capture a share of the growing premium services market, Swiggy has launched a travel and lifestyle concierge app, Crew, with India’s affluent at the centre. Launched on April 21, the app is in beta mode and available only through invitation on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Crew’s positioning is clear — an always-available, high-trust digital assistant to handle everything from booking impossible-to-get dinner reservations to planning anniversary surprises or even managing international travel logistics.

As per its app store description, the idea is to step in “when you’d rather hand something off to someone you trust completely”.

However, this isn’t Swiggy’s first attempt at cracking the luxury services space. According to sources familiar with the matter, Crew is an evolved version of Rare Life, a premium concierge experiment the company ran last year.

“Rare Life was never a full-blown offering. Crew has parts of what Rare Life was — travel and lifestyle concierge,” one source told Inc42 earlier.

Unlike Rare Life, Crew offers a wide range of services — from securing an international driving licence or finding the perfect gift to organising an overseas vacation.

While Swiggy hasn’t officially disclosed much about Crew’s business model, Rare Life operated on a subscription basis, charging up to INR 50,000 for membership and providing access to fashion shows and live music.

Industry analysts say the move to roll out Crew is part of a larger effort by Swiggy to diversify beyond food and grocery, while also massifying concierge services, a sector historically limited to five-star hotels and bespoke agencies.

“Concierge services are evolving from rarefied luxury to aspirational utility. With rising disposable incomes and time-starved urban professionals, there’s a real opportunity here,” a Swiggy executive said.

As Swiggy enters the concierge market, the opportunity is more real than ever — at least what the numbers indicate.

According to a report by Knight Frank, India’s high-net-worth individual (HNWI) population grew to 85,698 in 2024 from 80,686 in 2023. The report projects this number will climb to 93,753 by 2028.

A smaller-yet-powerful segment of 20,000+ UHNIs (with INR 300 Cr+ net worth) is steadily expanding beyond metros to tier II and tier III cities like Surat, Baroda, Varanasi, Ludhiana, and Indore.

This is exactly what is expected to give the concierge economy a shot in the arm. These folks want it all — VVIP access to temples, front-row access at a rock concert, curated trips to Wimbledon, heli-skiing in the Alps, bespoke safaris in Kenya, and we have barely scratched the surface here.

Therefore, hotel bookings have become a natural extension in the premium concierge and lifestyle management space.

However, here, Swiggy will have to learn a thing or two about hospitality from startups like Red Beryl and Indulge.

For starters, what HNIs seek is a seamless, value-loaded hospitality experience. “Our customers get year-round discounts (typically 20–25%) on some of the most premium properties globally. But what really matters to them is the enhancement — from complimentary room upgrades to priority check-ins and curated access to in-house restaurants,” said Manoj Adlakha, the founder of Red Beryl.

Dining, too, is not just about availability, but access. Members regularly leverage concierge platforms for hard-to-get tables at Michelin-star restaurants or special chef-curated dining experiences.

Event-based demand is another massive category. Whether it’s Trevor Noah in Bengaluru or Lionel Messi’s December India visit, HNIs are now building travel plans around marquee experiences.

While niche players like Indulge and Red Beryl cater to the ultra-rich with globally networked services, from sourcing Hermes micro-accessories to arranging spiritual tours and Coldplay backstage access, the broader aspirational class remains underserved.

This is where Swiggy has a scalable opportunity.

Swiggy has deep operational capabilities, last-mile delivery infrastructure, and a user base familiar with on-demand transactions. If it can deliver concierge services within minutes and at scale, it could position Crew as the concierge for India’s growing upper-middle class and affluent consumers, outside legacy HNI networks, according to industry experts.

“The opportunity lies in bridging aspiration and access. There’s a generation willing to pay for convenience, but not at ultra-premium rates. If Swiggy builds a differentiated, tech-driven concierge layer on top of its delivery muscle, it can dominate a category that has so far been restricted to whispers of exclusivity,” the analyst added.

Swiggy’s foray into the concierge segment is a warning bell for existing players that have spent years crafting a high-touch, high-retention service for India’s HNIs.

Swiggy has arrived with something others don’t command — serious distribution and product muscle, and bottomless reserves of capital.

This puts newer lifestyle startups in a precarious situation. Most have built their business around intimacy — trusted networks, bespoke execution, and word-of-mouth referrals. While there is no doubt that their customer acquisition cost is low, it has not helped their scale either.

Without a robust tech backbone or aggressive customer acquisition playbook, smaller players risk being outpaced by a company like Swiggy, which can burn capital to shape consumer behaviour.

For newer startups, the pressure now is twofold — build partnerships, exclusivity and personalisation, and build deep moats to defend against a company that can detach itself from immediate profitability to win the market.

Still, Swiggy isn’t immune. Winning the loyalty of ultra-premium users isn’t just about access, it’s about nuance.

“This is not just a game of logistics or tech scale, it’s a game of trust and consistency. You can’t automate intuition. Our clients expect us to know their preferences before they say them out loud. That’s not something an app notification or a chatbot can replicate, no matter how big the company,” said Karan Bhagat, the founder of Indulge Global.

As of now, Swiggy may have the muscle to take on this space, it cannot be just another side hustle — just like Rare Life, which got lost in oblivion. It is a serious business that demands a lifestyle task force dedicated to a new generation of affluent consumers who crave instant access and curated indulgence.

For Swiggy, the real challenge lies in mastering the art of anticipation — something legacy players have perfected over whispered calls and handwritten notes. Can Swiggy assemble a crew to deliver ultra-luxury with finesse?

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

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