Online grocery platform Bigbasket has raised $50 million debt funding from existing investor Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, according to documents sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
As per the documents, Bengaluru-based Bigbasket (owned by Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Ltd) has issued 4,62,500 Series F-2 compulsorily convertible debentures at ₹8,213.5 per debenture.
The new debt funding comes just a week after BigBasket raised $60 million as a part of a new bridge round from existing investors Alibaba, South Korea’s Mirae Asset and UK-development finance institution CDC Group.
Bigbasket did not respond to an email query.
In the last week of March, Bigbasket also announced the acquisition of micro-delivery service DailyNinja, which was to augment the user base of its subscription-based delivery service, bbdaily.
With this acquisition, the online grocer got access to DailyNinja’s 110,000 daily transacting customers, along with a network of 2000 milkman partners spread across India.
Mint had reported that Bigbasket shelled out close to $15 million to $20 million on the deal, citing sources.
The current debt raising isn’t the only round Bigbasket has raised this year. According to RoC documents, Bigbasket had also raised ₹25 crore of funding from venture debt provider Trifecta Capital in February.
In July, last year, Bigbasket had also announced that it raised ₹100 crore from Trifecta Capital to fund its working capital and capital expenditure requirements.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Bigbasket is hiring 10,000 permanent staff across its warehouses and distribution centres, and as delivery personnel to clear its order backlog. This hiring is expected to happen across 26 cities where the company is operational.
In April, Bigbasket also partnered with mobility providers like Uber and Rapido to provide and deliver grocery orders in various parts of the country.
