BigBasket nets $7M from Trifecta Capital to set up new warehouses

BigBasket has attracted number of global investors such as Dubai-based Abraaj Group, which led a $150 million in the company in March last year

BigBasket, a leader in the online grocery space in India, has secured $7 million (Rs 45 crore) from debt venture company Trifecta Capital.

The money will be invested in setting up new warehouses and facilities for reprocessing fruits and vegetables and strengthen the cold chain infrastructure.

“We have a clearly identified use case for debt. We are in the last leg of a pilot which will ensure that all fruits and vegetables are maintained at constant temperature and thereby improve the shelf life of the produce by almost 10 days. This will be done using large-scale equipment such as pre-coolers and ventilators. Funding such capex requirements is best done through debt.” Hari Menon, Co-founder and CEO of BigBasket said in a statement.

BigBasket has attracted number of multi-national investors such as Dubai-based Abraaj Group, which led a $150 million in the company in March last year. International Finance Corporation and Sands Capital, besides existing investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Helion Advisors, Zodius Capital and Ascent Capital, had also joined this round.

Founded in 2011, Bangalore-based BigBasket is one of the oldest grocery e-tailers in India. It claims to have over 19,000 products and over a 1,000 brands. It has operations in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Delhi, Noida, Mysore, Coimbatore, Vijayawada-Guntur, Kolkata, Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar, Lucknow-Kanpur, Gurgaon, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Nagpur, Patna, Indore and Chandigarh.

As of last year, BigBasket.com averaged 5 million monthly unique visitors and executed over one million orders per month. In 2015, BigBasket had acquired Bangalore-based smaller rival Delyver.

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