Tata Group is in talks to acquire up to 20% in e-grocer unicorn Bigbasket to bolster its digital arsenal and catch up with rivals including Amazon and Reliance Retail.
Tata and Bigbasket would take a decision on the partnership deal by the end of October, a person in the know told The Financial Times. Tata would also be getting two board seats, a second person said.
It was reported previously that Tata had planned to launch a super app aimed at bringing together its disparate consumer brands.
Some analysts say that the slow entrance of Tata into the online retail sector has already cost it a share of the expanding pie.
During April, Bigbasket raised a bridge round of funding worth more than $50 million from its existing investors Alibaba and CDC Group.
In March, it acquired Sama-capital backed micro-delivery startup DailyNinja for $6 million.
Meanwhile, food delivery major Zomato has raised $52 million (Rs 380 crore) from Kora Investments in the third tranche of its Series J round, an Entrackr report said.
New York-based Kora may inject more capital in the coming weeks.
This comes after the infusion of $62 million from Temasek and close to $106 million from Tiger Global
The ongoing round could be the last fundraise for Zomato before its public listing. The company recently said it is preparing for an IPO in 2021.
