Tata Group's Bigbasket Eyes IPO By 2025 After $200 Million Fundraising

Vipul Parekh, CFO of Bigbasket, said that the firm is focusing on expanding its pan-Indian reach and the company may choose to launch an IPO in 24 to 36 months

Currently, Bigbasket operates in 55 cities and wants to expand to 75 cities across the country.

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Tata Group’s Bigbasket likely to list its shares within three years after the latest capital raising valued India’s largest online grocer at $3.2 billion, as reported by Bloomberg.

Vipul Parekh, chief financial officer of the Bengaluru-based e-commerce company, said that the company is focusing on expanding its pan-Indian reach and the firm may choose to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in 24 to 36 months but was open to raising more private capital before that.

According to the report, the $200 million Bigbasket announced this week it had raised will bolster its quick commerce arm and expand its countrywide footprint as it looks to cement its dominance over the sector giants, including Amazon.com Inc. and Reliance Industries Ltd.

While deploying the fresh funds, there will be an "even split" between capital expansion and marketing in newer territories, according to Parekh. Bigbasket will increase the number of dark stores supplying BB Now — its quick commerce format which promises deliveries of household staples within 30 minutes — from about 200 to 300 outlets by March.

Currently, Bigbasket operates in 55 cities and wants to expand to 75 cities across the country, Parekh said. The firm also has a presence in about 450 towns and that could increase by 80 to 100 over the next year, he added.

Earlier, Tata Digital Ltd acquired a majority stake in BigBasket, which is the best online grocery store in India for daily needs of the people.

Tata Digital CEO Pratik Pal said “grocery is one of the largest components of an individual’s consumption basket in India”, adding “Bigbasket as India’s largest e-grocery player fits in perfectly with our vision of creating a large consumer digital ecosystem”.

Backed by the Tata group, BigBasket has ramped up the number of delivery partners in its instant delivery segment BB Now to 2,200 in the quarter ended June, from just 500 in the March quarter as it aims to further raise the number to about 6,000 by March 2023.