Blinkit to raise $100 mn next week as part of larger funding round

Delay in quick commerce company's fundraise due to choppy public markets

Quick commerce company Blinkit (formerly Grofers) is raising up to $100 million in funding by next week as part of a larger $400 million fundraise, according to sources close to the developments.

“We have been in talks with investors for this round for some time but it has been taking time because of the conditions in the public market. The business is doing well and we are delivering more than a million orders a week currently,” said a source in the know who does not want to be named.

According to media reports, the fundraise will include a debt financing by listed food delivery company Zomato as an equity round will need more time to go through due to the regulatory approvals.

Blinkit declined to comment on the matter. Zomato did not respond to Business Standard’s queries.

However, a source in Zomato who did not want to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said: “There is no clarity yet on whether it will be equity or debt funding. But we have been in discussions with Blinkit and have already made a commitment of investing $400-500 million in the company– of which more than half is pending.”

Last month, Zomato said it has around $1.7 billion of cash on its balance sheet and has made cash investments worth around $225 million in the past year across three companies – Blinkit (erstwhile Grofers), Shiprocket and Magicpin.

The company had further said that it will continue to invest both in its core food business and in quick commerce – and the upper bound of its potential investments in this category was $400 million cash over the next two years.

In July last year, the food delivery company had invested $100 million (around Rs 745 crore) for acquiring a minority stake of over 9 per cent in Grofers – which later rebranded to Blinkit as it pivoted to quick commerce.

After the re-branding in December, Dhindsa of Blinkit had told Business Standard: “Even at where we are today, with our existing cash flows, we have a healthy business and we don't need to raise more capital. We started doing 10-minute deliveries four months back and have opened 248 dark stores already. We are opening a dark store every four hours.

Blinkit has scaled up to around $450 million annual run rate of gross merchandise value (GMV) and now operates with more than 400 dark stores across 20 cities in India, according to a regulatory filing by Zomato last month. All of the former grocery delivery company’s business now is in quick commerce format with a median delivery time of around 12 minutes, it added.

Blink and miss

• Last month, Zomato said it has around $1.7 billion of cash on its balance sheet and has made cash investments worth around $225 million in the past year across three companies – Blinkit, Shiprocket and Magicpin

• Blinkit has scaled up to around $450 million annual run rate of gross merchandise value (GMV) and now operates with more than 400 dark stores across 20 cities in India, according to a regulatory filing in February

• In July last year, Zomato had invested $100 million (around Rs 745 crore) for acquiring a minority stake of over 9 per cent in Grofers

• The food delivery major has set an upper bound of $400 million to invest in quick commerce over the next two years