Online Grocery Startup Grofers raises $200 Million
The foods and grocery market is growing in India. According to some estimates, it will reach $869 billion in sales in 2023, with digital-based services seen as an important vector for growth. Grofers announced a $200 million investment by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, to battle its local competition and international giants Amazon and Walmart.
Gropher is rivaled by a number of players, including BigBasket, which raised its round earlier this month from Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, the U.K.’s CDC Group and Alibaba. The duo also faces competition from hyperlocal player Dunzo, and delivery startup Swiggy, which recently entered this grocery delivery space.
Grofers, only 5 yeras old, works with more than 5,000 stores in 13 cities in India. In an interview, Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder and CEO of Grofers, said the startup will use the capital injection to expand to new markets and bring its service to “hundreds of millions of Indian consumers,” although he didn’t specify exact launch cities.
The startup is rivaled by a number of local and multi-national giants. The larger concern for Grofers is the growing ambitions of Amazon India and Walmart’s Flipkart, both of which are quickly expanding their footprint in India.
Amazon’s Pantry and Prime Now services have a presence in more than 100 cities, while Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy has publicly expressed intention to pilot a fresh foods business in the nation. Dhindsa argued that these players are not really a significant competitor to Grofers yet.
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