theweekinreview
GROCERY STARTUPS BIGBASKET, GROFERS REVIVE MERGER TALKS
Grocery startups BigBasket and Grofers have revived talks for a merger as their investors Alibaba and SoftBank look to join hands, ahead of a potentially costly market share battle with Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart to dominate India’s online grocery market, three people familiar with the development said.
The proposed deal involves BigBasket acquiring its smaller rival, the people said on condition of anonymity.
If the deal goes through, the merged entity could raise $250 million from China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, one of the three people said. Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and other investors could pour more capital into that entity, the other two people said.
Grofers and Big Basket declined to comment. SoftBank and Alibaba did not respond to emailed queries.
FK LOOKS TO ENTER VIDEO CONTENT BIZ WITH STAKE HOTSTAR
Flipkart has held talks to buy a stake in Hotstar, Star India’s video streaming service, as part of India’s largest online retailer’s strategy to bet big on video content and attract more Internet consumers and shoppers, three people aware of the discussions said.
The talks have not reached an advanced stage and may or may not result in a transaction, the people cited above said. All three requested anonymity as the talks are confidential. Mint could not immediately verify the size of the stake Flipkart wants to buy in Hotstar.
RIL PLANS TO SET UP JIO HUBS TO BOOST SALES IN SMALLER TOWNS
India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani plans to build Jio Hubs, a one-stop shop for all consumer items sold by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its units ranging from electronics to groceries, to provide people living in small towns their first mall-like shopping experience.
The aim is to leverage the strengths of units Reliance Retail Ltd’s physical stores and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd’s digital infrastructure to boost sales in smaller towns, which have largely been untouched by modern retail and online shopping.
OLA RAISES $50 MN FROM TWO NEW CHINESE INVESTORS
India’s largest cab-hailing service Ola has raised $50 million at a valuation of roughly $4.3 billion from Hong Kong-based Sailing Capital and the China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund (CEECF), as part of the SoftBankbacked startup’s move to raise fresh funds of at least $1 billion. Sailing and Chinese state-backed investment fund CEECF will jointly hold a stake of over 1% in Ola, implying that the latter’s valuation has inched up since its previous fundraise, according to regulatory documents filed with the ministry of corporate affairs that were sourced by business intelligence platform Paper.vc.
ELON MUSK NAMES JAPAN BILLIONAIRE FOR MOON MISSION
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will hitch the first SpaceX ride around the moon and plans to invite as many as eight artists to join him—with the rocket company’s founder Elon Musk possibly signing up for the space flight.
Maezawa will fly on Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s BFR rocket on the trip in 2023, Musk announced on Monday. SpaceX expects Maezawa, 42, to be the first private passenger to make the journey that only two dozen astronauts have been on during the Apollo era that ended 46 years ago.