BigBasket May Rope In Temasek, Tybourne & Others For $400 Mn Fundraise

Grocery delivery platform BigBasket is reportedly in talks to raise $350 Mn-$400 Mn funding from Singapore-based Temasek, hedge fund Tybourne Capital and former US vice-president Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management at post-money valuations of $2 Bn.

Meanwhile, the deal may also see a partial or complete exit of few existing investors as nearly $100 Mn – $150 Mn is expected to be raised through secondary sale of shares by existing holders. The rest $250 Mn-$300 Mn will be raised through primary infusion. Goldman Sachs has been appointed as the investment banker by BigBasket for the proposed transaction.

BigBasket cofounder and CEO Hari Menon declined to comment on this report published by the TOI. However, back in June, he had confirmed that the online grocery store is looking to raise $250 Mn-$300 Mn from both new and existing investors at a valuation of $1.5 Bn-$2 Bn. Menon did not disclose any more transactional details.

Although previously, he had told the same publication, that he had noted that it is in the initial stages of the fundraising process, and has appointed Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as the advisor for the fundraise.

BigBasket was launched in 2011 by VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh and Abhinay Choudhari. BigBasket had entered the unicorn club last May after raising $150 Mn in Series F funding from Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, South Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments and the UK government-backed CDC Group.

Overall, the company has raised $1.02 Bn across 14 funding rounds from investors like Alibaba, Helion Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Abraaj Group, LionRock Capital and others. The Times of India’s latest report highlights that the company is now looking to diversify its shareholding by roping in new investors like Temasek, Tybourne and Generation Investment Management.

Temasek is one of the most active growth stage investors in India. It’s portfolio includes epharmacy startup PharmEasy, health and fitness company CureFit, food aggregator Zomato, online financial services PolicyBazaar, ride-hailing major Ola and payments firm Pine Labs.

Meanwhile, Tybourne had backed Girnar Group’s CarDekho and online mobile recharge platform FreeCharge in 2015.

Until last year, BigBasket had over 10 Mn registered customers and claimed to process 1 Lakh orders per day. But the Covid-19 pandemic acted as a booster back for grocery delivery platforms, which was fulfilling more than 3 Lakh orders per day during the lockdown. BigBasket had noted a 35% increase in sales in April and had to scale up its people and slot availability to deal with the influx.

In May and June, the company’s sales grew roughly about 18% and 20%. Further, Menon had noted that BigBasket has crossed an annual gross sale run rate of $1 Bn in May due to the rise in demand for groceries and essentials during the nationwide lockdown. In May, alone, the company clocked $90 Mn (INR 650 Cr) in sales after discounts.

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