China's Alibaba invests $146 million in Indian online grocery store BigBasket

A unit of China’s Alibaba has invested $146 million in Indian online grocer BigBasket, strengthening its position in the country’s online retail space and potentially posing a challenge to US rival Amazon.com. [caption id=“attachment_2235066” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image,. Reuters[/caption] Alibaba.com Singapore Ecommerce Pvt Ltd led the $196.7 million Series E funding round, which was approved by the BigBasket board in January, regulatory filings seen by Reuters on 2 February showed. Online grocery sales are fast becoming popular in India, with BigBasket, SoftBank-backed rival Grofers and Amazon’s India unit vying for a bigger piece of the market. Sands Capital Pvt Growth Ltd, International Finance Corp and Abraaj Basket I Pvt Ltd also participated in the latest funding round. Founded in 2011, Bengaluru-headquartered BigBasket services more than 6 million registered customers across 26 Indian cities. Through its units, Alibaba holds various investments in India’s growing online retail space, including a stake in the parent of mobile payments provider Paytm.