BigBasket, an India-based grocery delivery company backed by e-commerce group Alibaba, has agreed to an acquisition by conglomerate Tata Group, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Tata is acquiring a stake of more than 60% and the deal values BigBasket between $1.8bn and $2bn, TechCrunch’s sources claimed. Following the acquisition, BigBasket would look to go public as early as 2021.
Existing backers including Alibaba, which holds nearly 30%, are expected to exit almost entirely through the acquisition by Tata.
Founded in 2011, BigBasket operates an online grocery store that offers same-day delivery in over a dozen cities such as Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The company has raised $745m in funding altogether, and Alibaba supplied $50m in bridge funding in April 2020.
That investment came shortly after another report suggesting BigBasket had secured $60m from Alibaba, CDC Group and Mirae Asset Ventures.
Alibaba previously invested $50m in the company in May 2019 alongside $60m from Mirae Asset Global Investments and $40m from CDC.
The corporate had already led a $300m round in 2018 that included Bessemer Venture Partners, Trifecta Capital, Abraaj Group, Sands Capital Management, International Finance Corporation and Helion Ventures.
Zodius Capital and Ascent Capital are also among BigBasket’s earlier investors.
