According to multiple sources, Zomato, an Indian food delivery company, has agreed to invest $100 million into online Grofers, for a roughly 10% stake.Grofers, which has SoftBank as its largest shareholder, proposes to invest more than $1 billion. The investment must be approved by the Competition Commission of India (Indian regulator). Zomato's investment proposal is part of a larger round in which other investors, such as Tiger Global and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, are expected to contribute capital. Zomato did not comment.Grofers' and Zomato's leadership teams have been friends for many years and started exploring the possibility of making an investment earlier in the year. TechCrunch has learned that both companies are open to Zomato purchasing a majority of Grofers' shares in the future. However, a decision has not been made and will not be fully explored until Zomato is publicly traded.Zomato, which bought Uber's Indian food delivery company early last year, told its major investors that it sees a future in which the Gurgaon-based company has expanded beyond food delivery. The source requested anonymity because the discussions are confidential.Grofers is an Indian online grocery delivery company. As strict restrictions were imposed by Indian states to stop the spread of the virus, the startup has seen a surge in popularity. This startup is competing with BigBasket which recently sold its majority stake in Indian conglomerate Tata Group.Reliance Industries has emerged as India's most valuable company in the Indian online grocery market. Reliance Industries, India's largest retail chain, launched JioMart last year.JioMart's success is testament to its loyal customers, of which 80% are repeat shoppers. JioMart New Commerces goal is to grow and transform the small merchant community so that our merchant partners can prosper. Mukesh Ambani (chairman of Reliance Industries), stated that over 300,000 shopkeeper and merchant partners in 150 cities have been empowered and empowered to transform their business both digitally and physically in the last year.Bank of America analysts stated earlier this year that India's online grocery delivery market could reach $12 billion by 2023 in a note to clients.The sector is highly competitive with verticals such as BigBasket/Grofers, and horizontals like Amazon/Flipkart all trying to transform an unorganized market into one. Until recently, BigBasket was the No. BigBasket was the No. 1 player in this space, having sold over 300,000 orders per day and hitting $1 billion annuallyized GMV. Reliance Industries was also involved in the launch of JioMart's app in May 20 across 200 cities, they wrote.
