BigBasket Joins The Unicorn Club By Raising $150 Mn Series F

South Korea’s Asset Financial Group, Miree-Naver, China’s e-commerce company Alibaba and the UK’s Development Finance Institution CDC donated $ 150 million (Rs 1,040 crore) in India’s grocery company BigBasket. According to a media report, the BigBasket is valued at $ 1 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) with this investment now. With this, the company has entered the Unicorn Club. A company is added in Unicorn club when its value is at least 7,000 crores rupees.

BigBasket sells online goods related to the grocery in India, which is giving tough competition to giant e-commerce companies like Amazon and Wal-Mart owned Flipkart in many categories. This investment has been done at Big baskets parent company Supermarket Grocery Suppliers Limited. “The new fund will help the company to increase its expansion in various markets,” Bigbasket said in a statement. The supply chain will be strengthened and new reseller channels will be developed.

The company said, “Alibaba’s aim is to strengthen the growth of local Indian companies like local supermarkets. This will help in redefining the online behaviour of the users of the country. ” London’s CDC, which has been investing in the past three decades, has expressed its commitment to invest $ 1.7 billion in almost 300 companies in the country. The 8-year-old Bigbasket offers services to resellers in 10 metro cities and 15 Tier-II cities of the country.

“We are very excited about the possibilities of investment in India, which is an important area for us,” said Ashish Dave, Head of Myre India, in a statement. We will continue to identify and partner the leaders of the market. Bigbasket founder VS Sudhakar said that the company has the opportunity to stand as the country’s largest grocery business. The company’s plan is to set up vending machines in offices and apartment premises. “We have a lot of potential in these machines,” said Bgbasket officials. Customers can use the machine through their apps and buy products. “

Bigbasket also stated that “We have 18 large and 80 small distribution centers and by June this year, the number of big distribution centers will be increased to 20 and the number of small centers will be increased to 100.” Com[pany stated that this step will reduce the delivery time to the users and it will help to ensure the quality of dairy and fresh products. The company hopes that for these steps they will have to spend $ 100 million this year. Entering the unicorn club is the biggest achievement of Bigbasket now. It is ready to face its competitors like Amazon and Flipkart.