E-retailer BigBasket has secured $50 million from its existing investor Alibaba as part of a bridge round, two people in the know said, as per a media report. A bridge round is an intermediate funding meant to cover short-term expenses as the company looks for a larger investment cheque.
The funding comes at a time when the online grocery market is seeing unprecedented demand during a nationwide lockdown due the Covid-19 crisis. Major companies are tying up with delivery platforms to provide essentials to help people stay at home in these tough times.
Earlier in 2019, BigBasket had raised $150 million led by Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, UK government-owned CDC Group, and existing backers like Alibaba, at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
Last week, BigBasket announced that it would hire 10,000 additional permanent workers to cater to the excessive demand, which is as much as five times that on a normal business day.
Hari Menon, CEO of BigBasket, had told a media platform, that the company already has infrastructure in place to cater to 300,000 orders a day from its normal of 150,000 orders prior to the lockdown. He expects demand for groceries to be delivered to customer doorsteps to remain even after the lockdown as people will choose to remain cautious about leaving their homes.
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