Grofers raises Rs 400 crore in fresh funding

In a major move to fuel its growth in the e-grocery segment in India, Grofers, the low price online supermarket has raised Rs 400 crore in a fresh funding round led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group. The funding round also saw other investors including Tiger Global and Apoletto Asia. Total funds raised by the leading e-grocer thus stand at USD 226.5 million.

With this new Series E round, Grofers will continue to invest in building private labels and supply chain improvements. A significant amount of investment will go towards building infrastructure and technology and efficient supply chain management to achieve deeper penetration in existing Grofers cities.

Albinder Dhindsa

Albinder Dhindsa, Co-Founder and CEO, Grofers, said, “This fresh round by our existing investors is a vote of confidence and trust in the turnaround at Grofers. We took some hard decisions to fix parts of the business that were not scaling well. Our efforts have clearly contributed in making sure we have a clear path to profitability as well as the largest market share in the online grocery segment; having grown four-fold in the last one year for monthly sales in excess of Rs 100 crore.”

The online grocer currently clocks an average of 25,000 orders a day with an average order value of Rs 1400. It is the largest online grocery player in North India, having already turned operationally profitable in Delhi NCR on a per-order basis.

Dhindsa added, “This endorsement of Grofers’ business proposition will help us in building an enriched customer experience for our next ten million grocery shoppers. We are committed towards building a robust e-grocery market in India and further contribute to the growth of Indian farmers and digital India.”

Saurabh Kumar

Grofers, founded by Saurabh Kumar and Dhindsa in 2013, has previously raised USD 166.5 million from investors like SoftBank, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global. The online grocer recently launched its loyalty program called Grofers Smart Bachat Club, which has already crossed 100,000 subscribers in two months.

With Indian customers getting more familiar with online grocery shopping, the overall online grocery market is expected to move up the curve and touch USD 1 billion by this year compared to USD 600 million in 2016.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com