E-commerce group Alibaba has led a $300m round for India-based online grocery BigBasket that included private equity firm Abraaj Group and venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
Alibaba invested $146m in the round according to Reuters, which also identified investment adviser Sands Capital Management and International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank, as participants.
Helion Ventures and Trifecta Capital had invested $5.8m as part of the round, according to a regulatory filing in November 2017. It valued BigBasket at $950m, co-founder and chief executive Hari Menon told Bloomberg.
Founded in 2011, BigBasket runs an e-commerce platform that sells fresh produce, packaged food and beverages, spices and a range of household goods. It has 6 million registered users spanning 26 Indian cities.
The company will direct the funding to expanding its delivery infrastructure, warehousing network and connections with farmers as it prepares to expand into additional cities.
The deal is part of an ongoing strategy by Alibaba to penetrate the Indian market through corporate venturing investments. It came at the same time as a $200m investment by Alibaba’s financial services affiliate, Ant Financial, in India-based restaurant listings platform Zomato.
BigBasket has now raised $545m in equity funding altogether. Its last funding came in a $150m series D round led by Abraaj in early 2016 that valued it at $450m. IFC, Sands Capital, Helion Advisors, Zodius Capital and Ascent Capital also took part in that round.