Alibaba leads $196.7mn funding round in Indian online grocer BigBasket

Alibaba has invested $146mn in Indian online grocer BigBasket, as part of its series E funding round.

The round totalled $196.7mn in funding, with other investors including Sands Capital Pvt Growth Ltd, International Finance Corp and Abrajj Basket I Pvt Ltd.

The leading investment was made by Aliabba.com Singapore Ecommerce Pvt Ltd.

This marks Alibaba’s latest investment in the grocery market, following announcements last week it was in talks with Kroger and its partnership with Auchan late last year. It also hopes to strengthen its position in India’s growing ecommerce market.

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Its main competitors in India will be Amazon’s India business and Grofers, which is backed by Softbank.

BigBasket, one of India’s top online grocery companies, was founded in 2011, and is headquartered in Bengaluru. Its company website describes the business as “the first comprehensive online grocery store” across 25 regions. It carries 18,000 products and 1000 brands, and also offers a cash on delivery payment option, which is still popular in India where the growing e-payment market has yet to take over.