Merger of BigBasket and Grofers just doesn't make any sense

BigBasket says it averages about 50,000 orders in a day, reports Tech In Aisa

On-demand grocery startups Big Basket and Grofers say they are not merging, irrespective of what media reports today claim.

Big Basket CEO Hari Menon and Grofers CEO Albinder Dhindsa responded to an article in The Times of India, which said the companies have held merger talks, though the discussions are in a preliminary stage and have moved slowly.

Ganging up on Amazon

The Bangalore-based startup is set to raise $150million in a fresh funding round.

BigBasket is one of the few companies in the country that seems to have cracked on-demand grocery deliveries in India – a space so hard to navigate that others, including Flipkart, Ola, and even Amazon have struggled with.

Different paths

Amazon piloted its grocery unit in India starting September, but it doesn’t deal in fresh produce in any major way.

BigBasket says it averages about 50,000 orders in a day. Grofers services around 10,000.

On the face of it, a BigBasket-Grofers merger could create a local giant that would be in a stronger position to take on Amazon when it eventually launches grocery delivery in full force in the country. However, BigBasket is run by a team that strongly believes in being “grocers first, that just happens to be online.” Grofers is the opposite, where the team says they are “a tech company first, and then we are a grocery company.”

The differences of principles aside, a Grofers sales would free its investors for an exit, but it is likely to add to BigBasket’s chores.

This is an excerpt from the article published on Tech In Aisa. You can read the full article here