Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

As Walmart, Amazon loom, Bigbasket eyes $500 mn war chest

- Anirban Sen and Mihir Dalal

BENGALURU: Bigbasket, India’s largest grocery start-up, is in talks with investors to build a large war chest to prepare for a long drawn-out battle with deeppocket­ed rivals Amazon India and Walmart Inc., the latter of which is nearing a deal to buy online retailer Flipkart, three people aware of the discussion­s said.

Bigbasket, which raised $300 million from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and others in February, is in talks to raise between $300 million and $500 million from Alibaba and new investors, the people cited above said, adding that the talks are at an initial stage. All three people requested anonymity.

While Bigbasket is in talks with new investors, it is possible that the funds could be raised entirely from existing investors led by Alibaba, one of the three people said.

Although Bigbasket does not require additional funds immediatel­y, it wants fresh capital because the grocery business will likely be a priority for both Walmart and Amazon and they are expected to pump in hundreds of millions of dollars into the business, the people cited above said.

Additional­ly, given that the start-up ecosystem is currently enjoying an uptick in fundraisin­g after more than two years, Bigbasket wants to fill its coffers.

“For Bigbasket, it makes sense to take advantage of the current funding environmen­t and raise money while they can,” said the first person cited above.

Bigbasket is also aggressive­ly expanding and undertakin­g a number of new initiative­s. Some of its initiative­s include launching offline stores and kiosks, as well as a subscripti­on service. The company is also looking at acquisitio­ns of two smaller rivals, Milkbasket and Dailyninja, Mint reported last month.

Bigbasket is also attempting to strengthen its capabiliti­es in the so-called micro-delivery space— the delivery of a relatively small number of daily essentials such as dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables, within a few hours of an order being placed.

According to the second person mentioned above, Bigbasket is also in the middle of re-organizing its supply chain to make it more efficient and to help strengthen its capabiliti­es for same-day deliveries.

 ?? MINT ?? Bigbasket wants fresh capital because the grocery business will likely be a priority for both Walmart and Amazon
MINT Bigbasket wants fresh capital because the grocery business will likely be a priority for both Walmart and Amazon

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