Grofers Raises $24.2 Mn From Its Singapore-Based Entity, Capital investment LLC

Gurugram-based online grocery delivery startup Grofers has received an infusion of INR 97.58 Cr (around $14.2 Mn) from its Singapore-based entity, Grofers International. 

With this investment, Grofers International has been allotted 812 equity shares in the grocery delivery startup. The company has also raised an additional $10 Mn in its ongoing Series F round. This investment has come from an Abu Dhabi-based entity Capital Investment LLC. 

Commenting on the fundraise, cofounder of Grofers, Saurabh Kumar said, “This funding is part of the series F round we recently closed, which was also the largest primary financing round in the online grocery sector in India. Grofers business has grown a staggering 800% over the last two years and we are confident to build on the growth momentum.”

This development was first reported by a data intelligence platform paper.vc.

Recently in May, Grofers has raised a $200 Mn Series F funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund. Other investors who participated in the round included Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and KTB.

At that time, Grofers had said that the fresh funds will help the company to expand into new markets, build out its supply chain, warehousing infrastructure and private label product offerings, ensuring a steadily increasing range of products for customers. 

Founded in 2013 by IIT graduates Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar, Grofers offers products across categories such as grocery, fruits and vegetables. It operates in 13 cities. Prior to this round, Grofers has raised $301.8 Mn in multiple rounds from investors such as Sequoia and Tiger Global.

Grofers closed FY 2018 with $129.49 Mn (INR 950 Cr) in sales. It is now chasing a revenue target of $34 Mn (INR 2,500 Cr) and plans to roll out more than 500 stock keeping units (SKUs) for FY 2019.

In January, Grofers claimed it recorded revenue of INR 310 Cr and crossed INR 300 Cr in monthly sales. It further claimed that 250K new customers on the platform in January.

A Goldman Sachs report has forecasted that the Indian online grocery market is set to reach $40 Mn (INR 270 Cr) by FY19, growing at a CAGR of 62% from 2016 to 2022. With this potential in the market and promising entrepreneurs, the investment in Grofers adds further momentum to the grocery sector.

Also in May, Grofers’ direct competitor BigBasket closed its $150 Mn Series F funding round and entered the unicorn club. While, majors like Flipkart and Ola have been reported to be eyeing the space.

Indian Ecommerce giant Flipkart was recently reported to be in talks with Bengaluru-based grocery chain Namdhari Fresh to enter the grocery delivery market. And, ride-hailing major Ola was reportedly looking to leverage its 125K food delivery riders from its food delivery unit. Also, another ecommerce major Amazon had entered the space by acquiring a majority stake in Aditya Birla’s retail chain.