Grofers to achieve online deliveries under 10 minutes by setting up dark stores

E-grocer Grofers is looking to deliver all its groceries within 10 minutes by setting up dark stores that will exclusively focus on online deliveries. The stores would be set up in partnership with merchants on-ground in the top 12 cities the company operates. According to Mint, the company would be onboarding e-commerce stores, with merchants putting their own investments to set them up. It also added that Grofers will help finance some of them.

The online grocer would be getting lending partners and might also look to get a Non-Banking Financial Service (NBFC) license to help these merchants. At present, there are 280 stores from the top 12 cities that are currently at different stages of going live on the Grofers platforms. Over time, the company would be expanding its network of dark stores across all the 38 cities it currently operates.

The publication reported that on a particular day last week, the company had delivered 15,000 groceries on a 15-minute timeline. Grofer’s journey towards express deliveries began last year when it started delivering groceries to customers in 35-40 minutes.

No plans to go for a public listing this year

Backed by Soft Bank, Grofers entered the unicorn club by achieving a valuation of more than $1 billion this year. This indicated a surge in overseas investor’s interest in Indian startups.

The online grocer raised more than $120 million from Zomato Ltd and existing investor Tiger Global Management. The funding round which is yet to be completed may attract more investors who want to tap into India’s fast-growing online grocery market.

Also, the e-grocer had postponed the plans to go public this year, as it is able to garner funds from private equity investors.