This would be the startup’s biggest funding from a leading e-commerce business and Flipkart parent Walmart is also likely to invest, the report said
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Flipkart is in “advanced talks” to lead a new funding round in fresh produce e-grocery startup Ninjacart, The Economic Times reported on December 13, quoting sources. This funding round is likely to value Ninjacart around $ 750-800 million from the $ 500 million currently, it said.
“… the new funding is closing now; other existing investors are also likely to participate”, the report said further estimating that total investment “could even stretch over $ 100 million.” Ninjacart made good business recovery over the past year, it added
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
This would be the startup’s biggest funding from a leading e-commerce business and Flipkart parent Walmart is also likely to invest, sources said. They noted that the move comes as Flipkart looks to deepen its partnership with Ninjacart and expand to challenge Amazon India and Tata’s BigBasket.
Earlier, Flipkart and Walmart jointly invested close to $ 30 million in Ninjacart in 2019. Besides this, their grocery sector expansion saw scale up of Flipkart’s online store Supermart and its 90-minute hyperlocal delivery service Flipkart Quick.
Flipkart’s grocery segment as a whole serves 500-600 cities and competes with Amazon Fresh.
A second source said that Flipkart expanded to 500 cities before its Big Billion Days Sale and will continue to “focus heavily on groceries”, they added that Ninjacart would be “crucial” for this expansion on the supply side.
Flipkart and Ninjacart did not respond the queries, as per the report.
Founded in 2015, Ninjacart is present in seven cities, while Flipkart Quick is present in 10 with plans for expansion to 200 cities by 2022-end.
Competition in the e-grocery segment has heated up with Swiggy introducing Instamart, Dunzo Daily and Zepto gaining space by promising 15-30 minute delivery times.
Ninjacart’s other investors include Accel Partners, Nandan Nilekani and family, and Tiger Global which is the largest investor with 23 percent share.