Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank is looking to lead a funding round for India-based online grocer Grofers sized between $100m and $150m through its Vision Fund, Bloomberg Quint reported on Monday.
Vision Fund would provide about 70% of the capital for the round, which would value Grofers at between $600m and $650m, according to people familiar with the matter.
Existing backers including Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital and Yuri Milner’s Apoletto Asia fund could also invest, the sources said. Discussions are also ongoing concerning the introduction of a new investor that could bring the round to $200m.
Grofers runs a grocery e-commerce platform that offers a range of goods including food, beverages, cosmetics, pet care products and household goods at prices it claims are lower than supermarkets, and also offers delivery at a time convenient to the customer.
The company has so far secured approximately $226m in funding since it was founded in 2013. It last raised $61.4m at a $300m valuation, in a March 2018 round led by a $40m investment by SoftBank, which increased its stake to between 35% and 40%.
Tiger Global and Milner also participated in the March round, the former reportedly taking its share of Grofers to about 25%. SoftBank had led its $120m series C round in 2015 at a higher valuation, investing together with Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Apoletto.
The company had entered talks to merge with competitor BigBasket last month, according to LiveMint, though it reported this week that BigBasket is instead in discussions with one new and several existing investors to raise $300m to $400m at a $1.5bn to $2bn valuation.
