Food delivery service Zomato has helped India-based instant grocery delivery service Blinkit reach the $100m first close of a funding round projected to reach $400m, the Economic Times has reported.
Founded in 2013 as Grofers, Blinkit has built an online platform that helps users get groceries and other household goods delivered within 10 minutes. It has some 30,000 employees, having set up 450 additional warehouses and e-commerce dark stores across India.
Blinkit had received $16.7m in series G funding from venture capital firm KTB Ventures in October 2021, four months after Zomato joined Tiger Global Management to provide $120m for the company at a $1bn valuation, when it rebranded to its current name, taking its funding to $640m altogether.
Zomato operated a grocery delivery offering within its platform but it has been suspended since the company invested in Blinkit. Tiger Global had reportedly been considering buying Blinkit at a valuation of about $750m in early 2020, according to ET.
Media group Bennett Coleman & Co had injected $20m into the company in November 2019, in the wake of a $60m round led by internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s Vision Fund eight months earlier that was backed by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital.
SoftBank had already led a $61.4m round for Blinkit the previous year that included Tiger Global and Yuri Milner, following a $120m series C round in 2015 featuring Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Apoletto Managers.
Image courtesy of Grofers India Private Limited.
