Millbasket had earlier raised $35-40 from investors like Uniliver, Blume Ventures, and Mayfield. One of its earlier investors, Kalari Capitals sold their stake earlier to MN Televentures
Reliance India Ltd (RIL) is in the last leg of closing the deal with Milkbasket, which is a subscription-based, hyperlocal delivery platform. The Gurugram based start-up has seen all existing shareholders sell their share without much profit margin than what they had bought it initially. The deal appears to be a distress sale.
Milkbasket had previously held conversations with online grocery portal Bigbasket and Amazon groceries. Millbasket had earlier raised $35-40 from investors like Uniliver, Blume Ventures, and Mayfield. One of its earlier investors, Kalari Capitals sold their stake earlier to MN Televentures. The company was initially speculated to be valued at $80 Million and was trying to close a deal with respect to the same. However, talks did not materialize into anything concrete.
The acquisition by RIL makes sense as the company is planning to expand in the online grocery segment with JioMart. We have seen similar acquisitions when TATA acquired Big Basket and Swiggy acquired Supr Daily. The online e-grocery delivery space is emerging as a battleground for all the big boys in the space. RIL is also evaluating new startups in the space.
Source: Business World
