Amazon signs two-month exclusive agreement to acquire Bigbasket

Discussions between Amazon and Bigbasket over a potential acquisition by the former is stepping closer to reality with each passing day. According to a recent report by TOI, Amazon has entered into a 60-day exclusivity agreement with Bigbasket for a potential acquisition.

The agreement mandates that Amazon will be only contender to acquire BigBasket for a two-month period. However, it doesn’t stop the the largest online grocery platform from exploring funding chances from other investors.

Meanwhile, Bigbasket’s spokesperson had refuted any such discussion with Amazon.

As per a source quoted in the report, Bigbasket, valued at $450 million during its last round of financing, has been pushing for a sale price of around $700 million. The asking price said to be a hurdle in acquisition.

BigBasket is the largest funded online grocery store with $220 million in funds from investors including Abraaj Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Sands Capital, Helion Venture Partners and International Finance Corp.

Recommended read: Why owning Bigbasket makes sense for Amazon

Bengaluru based company has been looking to raise fund from quite some time. Some media report suggested that it’s eyeing to raise about $100-150 million to fund its private label expansion.

It raised Rs 45 crore from venture debt firm Trifecta Capital to meet capital expenditure requirements in March this year. In case, the acquisition gets through, Bigbasket will get cash exit even if some part comes through in Amazon stock as it’s a listed company.

Bigbasket also had merger negotiation with Grofers earlier this year, however it didn’t materialise.

Of late, Amazon is looking to capture a significant portion of the Indian grocery and food retail segment. The US based online retail giant committed to invest $515 million over the next five years into India’s food-retailing sector.

Launched in November last year, Amazon Now is currently operational in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi (NCR) and Hyderabad. According to some estimate, Amazon Now currently does about 7,000 odd orders across above mentioned four cities.

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