The nationwide clampdown may have stalled the Indian economy but it is having a reversal effect on grocery e-tailers. Virtually every online grocery company is reporting a surge in their demand and deliveries as people clamor hard to collect daily essentials.
Encouraged by this skyrocketing demand, Grofers is now in talks to raise fresh tranche of funding amounting to $60-70 Mn, according to Economic Times. Interestingly, this new development has come barely weeks after media reports claimed that Zomato is in talks to acquire Grofers.
ET’s latest report claimed, after citing unidentified sources, that all the existing investors including Softbank, Tiger Global and Sequoia are likely to back the upcoming capital infusion round.
Here are the important figures that ET’s report has stacked up for Grofers and they do look pretty impressive. These figures are based on the information provided by anonymous sources.
- The company expects to clock a gross merchandise value of $750 Mn for this year
- It has brought 2,50,000 new customers on board in April and expects to bring 3,50,000 more customers in May
- The company is already claiming to hit Ebdita level profitability.
- Buoyed by the recent surge in demand, the company is planning to add another $25 Mn in its ESOP pool.
Despite all these claims, the Gurugram headquartered company may not see much bump up in its market valuation. Sources say that the startup will be valued around $650 Mn, pretty much the same valuation it had commanded during the last funding round.
Grofers’ rival BigBasket, on other hand, is reporting a similar surge in its demand. The Bengaluru headquartered company had even recently raised $50 Mn debt to keep up with lockdown demand.
While grocery e-tailers are thriving due to the lockdown demand, the bigger question is whether this skyrocketing demand is sustainable in the long run; especially when the nationwide lockdown is lifted.