E-grocer BigBasket raises $300 mn from Alibaba, others

India's leading online grocer BigBasket on Friday said it has raised $300 million from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and other investors.

"We have raised $300 million in the latest funding round led by Alibaba and other investors," BigBasket said in a statement here, but did not mention which round of funding the latest is.

"The funds will be directed towards improving our technological, analytical and infrastructural abilities, all of which enable the company to grow," the company's CEO and co-founder Hari Menon said in the statement.

Currently, BigBasket operates in 30 cities in the country, with its headquarters here.

For its future strategy, the company is focusing on increasing its customer base in the cities that it is present in, rather than expanding to other cities, said Menon.

"We are partnering with nearly 1800 farmers throughout the country currently and aim to work with up to 3000 of them ahead," he added.

The online grocer claims to have over 8 million customers, registering a revenue of up to Rs 200 crore per month. The company aims to increase its sales to Rs 300 crore by August this year and Rs 500 crore by March 2019.

BigBasket had a total revenue of Rs 1,410 crore for 2016-17.

"We have already broken even in Bengaluru and Hyderabad markets and expect to break even in Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Chennai in the next three months," the company said.

The retail market in India is estimated to be worth over $900 billion, out of which grocery shopping is said to account for an estimated $600 billion.

--IANS

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