Tatas eye stake as BigBasket looks for $400-m funding

In a bid to ramp up its digital presence, the Tata Group is eyeing a minority stake in online grocery firm BigBasket. The two sides are in initial stages of discussions which could lead to the Tatas picking up a 15-20 per cent stake, sources said.

Also read: E-commerce sales set to double in 2020

BigBasket’s last major fund infusion was in last May, when it had received $150 million in a round led by South Korea’s Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, UK’s CDC Group, and existing investor Alibaba. The company’s valuation then was over $1.2 billion. Before that Big Basket raised $300 million in February 2018 as part of its series E financing, which was led by the Alibaba Group. This gave the company a post-money valuation of $850 million.

According to market sources, BigBasket is scouting for additional funding of $350-400 million at a valuation of about $2 billion. This comes at a time when the demand for online grocery has skyrocketed due to the pandemic.

BigBasket, which is present in 35 cities pan India, is gearing up for a bumper festival season sales this year. Its sales doubled from February to July, customer base grew by 80 per cent and existing customers bought 25 per cent more. Its AOV (average order value) increased from ₹1,300 in February to ₹1,500 in September and is expected to go up further by ₹50-100 during the festival sales.

Higher growth target

BigBakset has hence upped growth targets for FY21 by 40-50 per cent. The additional funding will be used to meet the company’s expansion plans to meet the rising demand.

Also read: Online grocery market to cross $3-b GMV in 2020

For Tata Group, the investment will be part of its overall strategy to increase its digital presence. According to a Financial Times report, a decision on investing in BigBasket will be taken by the end of this month.