Grofers seeking to raise $60 Mn amid Consolidation in Online Grocery Biz

Gurugram based online grocery startup Grofers is seeking to raise fresh funding of worth $60 Mn from its existing investors.

Economic Times has reported that Grofers’ largest stake holder SoftBank, which owns more than 40% stake, is planning to invest $30 Mn.

The remaining $30 Mn will be pumped by other existing investors including Tiger Global and KTB Ventures, ET report added.

The company is also making efforts to bring in new investors but is reportedly facing quite a few hurdles on this front.

Grofers’ fresh fundraising talks have come at a time when JioMart’s entry has caused flurry of consolidation activities across the online grocery industry. In fact, the Gurugram based startup is itself involved in merger talks with its arch rival BigBasket and online delivery major Zomato.

However, it now seems that in all probability these talks have fell through and, at least, for time being Grofers will remain an independent entity.

It may not be a coincidence either that Gurugram headquartered startup’s fundraising quest has come exactly at a time when Tata’s are in talks to pick up majority stake in BigBasket.

If this deal goes through then it will offer Tata’s the passage to enter India’s burgeoning online e-commerce market.

With Tata on one side and Mukesh Ambani’s JioMart on other side, a comparatively smaller player like Grofers will certainly need to build its funding chest to take on big boys. Not to mention that Flipkart and Amazon are also putting lot of competitive pressure on the grocery startup.

India’s online grocery industry hogged lot of limelight during the nationwide lockdown. With India clamping down one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, people in great numbers took to online grocery startups like Grofers and BigBasket for ordering daily essentials.

Both startups reported a huge spike in their GMV and sales during the lockdown period.

Overall, despite many challenges sun seems to ne shining bright on India’s online grocery industry. Consulting firm RedSeer has predicted that the industry is likely to grow at 60% CAGR to reach the market size of nearly $10 Bn by 2023.

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