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Blinkit

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Blinkit
FormerlyGrofers (2013–2021)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryQ-commerce
FoundedDecember 2013; 10 years ago (2013-12)
FoundersAlbinder Dhindsa
Saurabh Kumar[1]
HeadquartersGurgaon, Haryana, India
Area served
India
Key people
Albinder Dhindsa (CEO)
ServicesOnline grocer[2]
RevenueIncrease ₹2,301 crore (US$280 million) (FY24)[3]
ParentZomato[4]
Websitewww.blinkit.com

Blinkit Commerce Private Limited, d/b/a Blinkit and formerly Grofers, is an Indian quick-commerce service.[5][6][7] It was founded in December 2013 and is based out of Gurgaon.[8][9]

Customers of the company use a mobile application to order groceries and essentials online. Blinkit's employees then secure the items from their warehouse and deliver the items to the consumer within 10 minutes.[10] By November 2021, the company was delivering 1.25 lakh orders every day.[11] Blinkit currently operates in more than 30 cities in India. By the end of 2021, the company had raised about US$630 million from investors including SoftBank, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital.[12][13][14]

In 2022, Zomato acquired Blinkit for US$568 million in an all-stock deal.[15][16]

Blinkit has 639 dark stores at the end of June 2024, and the company aims to make the number 2,000 by 2026.

History

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Blinkit was founded in December 2013 by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar as Grofers.[17] Having met each other while working for Cambridge Systematics during the late 2000s, they teamed up to enter the grocery delivery space. Their goal was to solve the problems (both on customer as well as merchant end) associated with the unorganized nature of the sector.[18] The startup piloted in Delhi NCR before reaching other cities in India.[citation needed]

After seven years of operations as an online grocery delivery service,[19] Blinkit introduced express grocery delivery in India, by building dark stores across cities. In July 2021, the company reported delivering over 7000 groceries in 15 minutes in Gurgaon.[20] A month later, in August 2021, it introduced 10-minute delivery in the top-12 cities, after completing over 20,000 under-15-minute deliveries per day across 10 cities.[21] On 13 December 2021, Grofers[22] changed its brand name to Blinkit[23] in line with its vision to embrace quick-commerce.[24][25][26][27]

In March 2022, Blinkit fired 1,600 employees and ground staff, nearly 5% of its total workforce, in an effort to cut burn rate. Following this, Zomato granted a US$150 million loan to Blinkit. Zomato had acquired a 10% stake in company the year prior.[28][29] Following numerous discussions, on 24 June 2022, Zomato announced that it would acquire Blinkit for US$568 million in an all-stock deal.[15] The acquisition was completed on 10 August 2022.[16][30]

Services

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Blinkit primarily delivers groceries, fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, stationery, bakery items, personal care, baby care and pet care products, snacks, flowers, etc.[31]

Criticism

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Blinkit is involved in the legal dispute for the name Blinkit. Grofers India had applied for the trademark on December 24, 2021. [32]

In August 2021, the company's 10-minute delivery service faced criticism with concerns raised over the safety of delivery partners. CEO Albinder Dhindsa, in a tweet, defended the mechanism behind express delivery and claimed that there had been zero accidents.[33][34]

In April 2023, hundreds of Blinkit delivery partners in Delhi NCR, where about half of the company's dark stores were located, went on a strike after a revision in payout structure resulted in lower earnings for them. This led to a temporary closure of many dark stores.[35]

In June 2024, the FSSAI conducted a raid on a Blinkit warehouse in Telangana, uncovering multiple food safety violations, including unhygienic storage and handling, expired food products, and packets suspected of infestation.[36][37]

Funding rounds

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Source:[38]

Transaction Name Number of Investors Fund Raised
Series A 1 US$500K
Series B 2 US$10M
Series C 2 US$36.5M
Series D 5 US$120M
Series E 3 US$58.6M
Series F 7 US$264M
Sale Zomato US$568.31M

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bhalla, Tarush (18 June 2021). "Kumar steps back at Grofers". mint. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Grofers shifts base to Singapore". The Times of India. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Zomato Q4FY24 results: Blinkit nearly triples its revenue; plans to reach 1,000 store mark". Economic Times. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
  4. ^ Rudra, Tapanjana (10 August 2022). "Zomato Completes Acquisition of Quick-Commerce Startup Blinkit". Inc42 Media. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  5. ^ Sarkar, John (13 December 2021). "Big Basket rival Grofers rebrands itself as Blinkit with eye on quick commerce". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  6. ^ Bhalla, Tarush (13 December 2021). "Grofers rebrands as Blinkit with quick commerce space heating up". mint. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Grofers puts on a new name, Blinkit, to show how the focus of its business is changing". Business Insider. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  8. ^ Sen, Sunmy (23 May 2016). "It's Grofers vs BigBasket in the grocery delivery app war". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  9. ^ "Grofers has had a good run so far, aims at operational break-even by year end". Business Insider. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  10. ^ "10 minute delivery". Business Today. 23 August 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  11. ^ "We Are Delivering 1.25 Lakh Orders Every Day: Albinder Dhindsa Of Grofers". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  12. ^ Shu, Catherine (5 January 2016). "Indian Hyperlocal Delivery Startup Grofers Pulls Out Of 9 Cities". TechCrunch. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  13. ^ Ganguly, Paloma (26 November 2015). "Delivering groceries, Grofers bags big bucks from SoftBank". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  14. ^ Saligrama, Anirudh (15 August 2016). "How Grofers Is Battling Legal Notice That Was Served By Students". TechStory. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  15. ^ a b Singh, Manish (24 June 2022). "Zomato acquires Blinkit for $568 million in instant-grocery delivery push". TechCrunch.
  16. ^ a b "Zomato completes acquisition of quick commerce company Blinkit". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  17. ^ "Grofers To Raise Over $5 Mn From SoftBank". Inc42. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  18. ^ Ankita (8 February 2016). "[EXCLUSIVE] "We started with a room and couple of people", Grofers Lets Us In On Its Clockworks". HungryForever Food Blog. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Explained: The q-commerce model, how your order is delivered in minutes". The Indian Express. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  20. ^ "Grofers Forays Into Instant Delivery, Delivers To 7,000 Households Within 15 Mins". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  21. ^ Bhalla, Tarush (23 August 2021). "Online grocer Grofers sets sights on under 10-minute deliveries". mint. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  22. ^ "After giving up on 90-minute delivery five years ago due to lack of profitability, Grofers is now chasing 10-minute delivery". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  23. ^ "Grofers puts on a new name, Blinkit, to show how the focus of its business is changing". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  24. ^ "Grofers renames itself Blinkit with eye on faster deliveries". India Today. 14 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  25. ^ "Grofers rebrands to Blinkit in line with its 10-min grocery delivery plan; steps up hiring". Business Today. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  26. ^ "Grofers rebrands as Blinkit, assures 10 minute delivery". Business News. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  27. ^ "Grofers rebrands to Blinkit as quick commerce space heats up". VCCircle. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  28. ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  29. ^ "Zomato to give $150 million loan to Blinkit". The Economic Times. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  30. ^ Rai, Joseph (24 June 2022). "Zomato to acquire Blinkit for ₹4,447 crore in all-stock deal". mint. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  31. ^ "Albinder Dhindsa". Yo! Success. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  32. ^ "Drama is all in the name". March 2023.
  33. ^ "Grofers co-founder defends 10-min delivery service". YourStory.com. 29 August 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  34. ^ Dhindsa, Albinder [@albinder] (28 August 2021). "I want to chime in about the hate we are getting for delivering groceries in 10 minutes... https://t.co/RNhFvd6ojV" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021 – via Twitter.
  35. ^ "Blinkit strike: Why Zomato-owned company has shut down some Delhi-NCR Dark stores". The Times of India. 18 April 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  36. ^ "FSSAI discovers food safety violations at Blinkit warehouse in Telangana, action to be taken". Mint. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  37. ^ "Zomato-owned Blinkit warehouse raided in Hyderabad: Company's response on these food safety violations reported". The Times of India. 11 June 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  38. ^ Bansal, Varsha (15 May 2019). "SoftBank, Tiger Global deliver $220 million in fresh funds to Grofers". mint.
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