Bigbasket gets $150 million in fresh funding

A group of investors including South Korea-based Mirae-Naver and China`s Alibaba Group has led a fresh $150 million funding round in online grocery company Bigbasket, the Indian startup said on Monday. Bigbasket, which sells everything from groceries and fresh produce to pet food, competes with Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc`s e-commerce unit Flipkart in many categories.  The company has been investing in warehousing and logistics, as well as in expanding its delivery network to smaller towns and cities as it fights to keep its lead in the complex but fast growing grocery business.

Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund and Alibaba were joined by the UK government`s development finance institution, CDC Group, in the funding round, Bigbasket said. However, it did not mention what the company`s valuation would be post funding. Bigbasket did not immediately provide more details about the deal.

Alibaba became the biggest shareholder in Bigbasket last year, after it led a $300 million funding round in the company, stepping up its competition with Amazon. Chief Executive Hari Menon had then said it expected to break even between 2020 and 2022.