First Unicorn Of 2019? BigBasket Is Raising $150 Mn Funding

Bengaluru-based hyperlocal grocery delivery company, BigBasket, is closing a $150 Mn (INR 1,069 Cr) funding round. The funding round values BigBasket at $1 Bn premoney, which would make the company the first India startup to join the unicorn club in 2019 .

The deal is said to be in its final stages, sources told Inc42. However, at the time of publication, Bigbasket was yet to file the documents for the funding round with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

The potential funding round is led by the existing backer, Alibaba while new investors such as CDC Group owned by UK government and South Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments will be coming onboard, ETtech reported.

As per Inc42’s Annual Indian Tech Startup Funding Report 2017, BigBasket is among the 34 startups that could potentially join India’s unicorn club by 2020.

Last year in October, BigBasket was reportedly looking to raise as much as  $300 Mn – $400 Mn. Till date, BigBasket had raised a total of $885.7 Mn across 13 funding rounds from investors such as Chinese conglomerate Alibaba, Helion Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Abraaj Group, LionRock Capital and others.

The company’s last funding round was closed in February 2018 with a massive $300 Mn, led by Chinese conglomerate Alibaba along with the participation of Abraaj Capital, Sands Capital and IFC.

BigBasket was launched in 2011 by VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh and Abhinay Choudhari. The company plans to touch $1 Bn gross sales run rate by the end of FY19. It has recorded close to $33 Mn (INR 230 Cr) in gross monthly sales, with an annual exit rate of around $435.8 Mn (INR 3K Cr) in March 2018.

According to a TechSci Research report, the Indian online grocery market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 55% during 2016 – 2021.

However, the last year saw BigBasket’s competition growing exponentially, with the foray of big players like Flipkart, Amazon India, and Paytm Mall in the grocery delivery sector.

BigBasket is hoping that its efforts to create in-house brands such as Fresho for vegetables and idli and dosa batter; Royal and Popular for staples; Tasties, for snacks will help drive growth going forward. This addition helps BigBasket in becoming self-reliant while other players have to depend on kirana stores for their supply of these products.

BigBasket aims to generate 45% of overall sales from its private label business by April 2019. At present, private labels contribute roughly 34% to its revenue.

The company has also entered the micro-delivery space with its acquisition of milk delivery startups RainCan and Morning Cart along with a controlling stake in Kwik24, a smart vending machines startup.