BigBasket Eyes Stake In Smart Vending Machines Startup Kwik24

According to recent reports, BigBasket is planning to acquire its stake into Bengaluru-based smart vending machines startup Kwik24. One of the primary reasons for acquiring this stake is to strengthen its position against the already existing players in this industry such as Flipkart and Amazon’s pantry services.

The other reason for this acquisition is also to enable BigBasket to increase its reach toits offline customers. Bengaluru-based Kwik24 was incorporated by Neeraj Ray and Samir Duggal in the year 2016 with the main aim to transform the food retail market with India’s first ever patented, checkout free Smart Connected stores in offices, apartments and colleges.

These machines have already been deployed in over 30 corporate locations in Bengaluru. BigBasket has earlier too raised approximately $300 million from Alibaba and other investors. However, in FY 2017 it also saw its losses increasing significantly on the egrocery front.

The other expansion plans of BigBasket includes expanding its portfolio with various private labels of cosmetics and meat. For this reason it has already started working through kiosks that will stock fruits, vegetables, FMCG goods and other such grocery items through the BB instant app.

Currently the market share of BigBasket is around 35% in the online grocery segment. It would be interesting to watch how this acquisition is likely to help BigBasket grow in its expansion plans.